Cyber Bill Clears Committee
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has unanimously approved a comprehensive cybersecurity bill yesterday.
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, S.3480, submitted by Sens. Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins and Tom Carper, would create a new cyber center within the Department of Homeland Security and create a White House Office of Cyberspace Policy to spearhead federal and private sector cybersecurity efforts.
“Catastrophic cyber attack is no longer a fantasy or a fiction,” Lieberman said. “It is a clear and present danger. This legislation would fundamentally reshape the way the federal government defends America’s cyberspace. It takes a comprehensive, risk-based, and collaborative approach to addressing critical vulnerabilities in our own defenses. We believe our bill would go a long way toward improving the security of our government and private critical infrastructure, and therefore the security of the American people.”
When the bill first appeared, several privacy and civil liberties advocates claimed the bill provided the president with a “kill-switch” for the Internet. Language has since been added to the bill requiring the president to obtain Congressional approval for extending emergency powers beyond 120 days.
“It’s important that we realize that the threat of a catastrophic cyber attack is not theoretical,” Collins said. “It’s very real. It is not a matter of ‘if’ such an attack is going to occur, but when. Cyber crime costs our national economy billions of dollars annually. And intelligence officials have warned over and over again that these attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated. The fact is: We cannot fail to act. We can’t wait until there is a cyber 9/11 and say, ‘Why didn’t we act? We knew this was coming.’ The attacks are ongoing even as we meet. So we must act, and I believe we have drafted a responsible bill to do so.”
Photo: Currant.com
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