- CISPA,
- FISMA,
- CEA and
- NITRD.
In contrast to the Senate, the Republican Leadership in the House is pursuing a piecemeal approach to cybersecurity reform. In fact, Representative Thornberry issued a report last year stating that the best approach to cybersecurity reform was to allow each committee of jurisdiction to develop, vet and introduce cybersecurity legislation.
Senator Reid’s preference for enacting major cybersecurity reform is through an omnibus framework or a comprehensive bill that tackles are the relevant moving parts of the cybersecurity ecosystem.
Here is a brief summary of cybersecurity bills in the House that are currently under consideration:
1. Chairman Mike Rogers of the House Intelligence Committee marked up the Cyber Intelligence Sharing Information and Protection Act (CISPA). The act allows and provides certain immunities for private sector companies to share cybersecurity threat and attack information with federal government agencies. The proposed law also would allow for private rights action to protect against any possible overreach by federal government agencies.
2. Representative Darrell Issa’s bill H.R. 4257, Federal Information Security Amendments Act, would update the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) by requiring federal agencies to create more robust mechanisms to protecting federal systems from cyber threats and attacks, such as implementing continuous threat monitoring assessments and responses.
3. Subcommittee Chairman McCaul of the Overisght, Investigations and Management introduced H.R. 2096, Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, is aimed at improving coordination among federal agencies in the areas of research and the development of technical standards in the area of cybersecurity. It specifically grants greater authority to the National Science Foundation and the National Institute for Standards and Technology to lead the coordination efforts in these areas.
4. Subcommittee Chairmen Lungren of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies introduced H.R. 3674, Promoting Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness Act, (PrECISE Act). The bill has been curtailed significantly since introduced and would aim to create a national clearing house for the sharing of cybersecurity threats and attacks. The original bill would have granted the Department of Homeland Security to develop performance standards for protecting federal agencies for cyber threats and attacks.
5. Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology introduced H.R.2577. The Safe Act introduced by Representatives Bono Mack and Blackburn is the companion bill for Senator McCain’s senate cybersecurity legislation, known as the Secure IT Act.
6. Subcommittee Chairman Ralph Hall introduced H.R. 3834, Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act, (NITRD). This bill would maintain an existing partnership of collaboration between federal agencies in the area of information sharing, research and development for cybersecurity, such as detection, prevention, response and recovery.
