David Valdez Posts

We applaud Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and John Thune (R-SD) for introducing “the Cybersecurity Act of 2013” this month. The act covers several important policy elements of the cybersecurity ecosystem. For instance, among the bill’s provisions are sections on public-private collaborations on cybersecurity; cybersecurity research and development, education and workforce development; and cybersecurity awareness and preparedness. An important component of the proposed legislat ...

Earlier today, CompTIA’s own Chief Legal Officer Dan Liutikas testified during the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade hearing titled “Reporting Data Breaches: Is Federal Legislation Needed to Protect Consumers?” Serving on the panel with Liutikas were other distinguished IT policy experts such as Debbie Matties, vice president of privacy for CTIA, Jeff Greene, senior policy counsel, cybersecurity and identity at the Symantec Corporation, Kevin Richards, sen ...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Subcommittee on the Internet held back-to-back hearings on May 21 focused on “Cyber Threats and Security Solutions” and “An Examination of the Communications Supply Chain” in what was a marathon day of testimony. The first hearing consisted of two panels. The first panelist was Patrick Gallagher, undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). ...

Congress failed to pass major cyber-security reform during the 2012 legislative session. In the Senate, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pushed the “Secure Act of 2012” to a floor vote, but failed to get the necessary votes. In the House, Republican Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) advocated for a cyber-security reform through a series of individual bills as opposed to one comprehensive bill as a step toward enhancing America’s defenses on cyber-securit ...

Congressman J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) has prepared a draft data breach notification bill that serves as the best effort this year to eliminate the patchwork of state data breach notification laws. The bill would require “entities that acquire, maintain, store or utilize personal information” to report a data breach of customer information within 14 days of the breach. An entity that provides customer notice would be considered in compliance with the proposed rule.The proposed rule also would impose ...

Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Health and Technology held a hearing titled “Protecting Small Businesses Against Emerging and Complex Cyber-Attacks.” CompTIA’s own Dan Shapero, founder of ClikCloud, participated on a panel comprised of the following speakers: William H. Weber, senior vice president, general counsel, Cbeyond, Atlanta – testifying on behalf of the COMPTEL. Justin Freeman, corporate counsel, Rackspace, San Antonio, TX – testifying on behalf of ...

Last week, the president issued a long-awaited executive order that seeks to protect critical infrastructure – an action he promised soon after Congress didn’t reach agreement on cyber-security legislation last year. This week, the New York Times reported that a link has been established between cyber-attacks against U.S. companies and firms that provide a variety of services, including those that provide services to critical infrastructure owners and operators. This is an alarming development t ...

In early 2012, Congress enacted the 2012 Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, which included a provision that authorized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct incentive auctions to maximize the utility and efficiency of the nation’s radio spectrum frequency bands.Consequently, on October 2, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking comments on several aspects of an FCC proposed “reverse auction” process aimed at incentivizing television broadcaster ...

Three key milestones that either occurred recently or are expected soon will shape the future of communications technology.First, the number of mobile devices that connect to the Internet now exceeds the number of PCs connected to the ‘net, which is a reflection of our increasingly mobile society.Second, the age of Big Data is here. The Washington Post recently reported that we have exceeded our computing capacity beyond the exabyte. According to TechTerms.com, the exabyte is a “unit of measurem ...

With the re-election of President Obama, a net one seat pick-up for Senate Democrats, and with Republicans maintaining control of the House, we can expect to see some of the same IT issues emerge during the lame duck and the 2013 legislative session that we saw in the last Congress.  First, the issue of cybersecurity reform emerged as a post election lame duck issue.  There is a distinct possibility that the White House may issue an Executive Order on Cybersecurity that would mandate owners and ...