David Valdez Posts

Earlier today, the White House issued a letter addressed to Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, signed by John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.The letter states “the President is determined to use existing executive branch authorities to protect our nation against cyber threats.” This letter makes clear that in the absence of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation the White House will ...

Last week leadership of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a copy of the revised “Cybersecurity Act of 2012,” which is the latest draft bill aimed at reforming cybersecurity laws and regulations.Yesterday, Senator Reid’s office stated that the bill would be up for a floor vote this week.  Senators Lieberman, Rockefeller, Collins and Snowe, among others, worked diligently behind the scenes to move the bill forward by securing bipartisan support for the bill ...

Last week, Senator Toomey (R-Penn.) released the “Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2012,” and is co-sponsored by Senator Olympia Snowe, Jim Demint, Roy Blunt, and Dean Heller.There are several provisions to this proposed data breach notification legislation, but among the highlights is a requirement that a covered entity provide “ . . . notice of any breach of the security of the system following discovery by the covered entity . . .” so long as the covered entity “reasonably believe ...

As early as last week, Senator Lieberman stated that he is hopeful that “there is still a possibility” that cybersecurity could get passed in the Senate this year.  This is Senator Lieberman’s last legislative session since he is retiring this year.  Many beltway insiders believe that the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is eager to see passage of comprehensive cybersecurity reform as his last major achievement.Although the odds are no better than 50/50 to get ...

Previous, I gave an overview of the key pieces of cybersecurity legislation under consideration in the House. Now let’s turn to the Senate, which favors a comprehensive approach to this issue.In the Senate there are two competing cybersecurity bills. S. 2105, Cybersecurity Act, which includes bill provisions authored by Senators Lieberman, Collins and Rockefeller, also incorporates cybersecurity recommendations for legislative reform provided by the White House.Among the key provisions: Grants n ...

This week, the House Republican Leadership plans to put up four cybersecurity bills for floor votes: 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 ...

Activity surrounding cybersecurity saw an uptick this week as Democrats and Republicans tried to position themselves on tech-impacting legislation.  Below is a quick round-up of the leading stories: Senators Unveil Major Cybersecurity Bill New Cybersecurity Center for Excellence Launched GOP Cybersecurity Bill Takes Light Regulatory TouchPrivacy also was a top issue this week with numerous stories covering everything from a White House proposal for managing consumer privacy to coverage of Google ...

The 2012 legislative session started off looking very promising for the passage of cybersecurity reform -- then suddenly the landscape shifted. On privacy and intellectual property issues, we saw the Internet companies flex lobbying muscle in an unprecedented way.  Finally, even though 2011 saw more major data breach incidents than previous years, data breach reform may be a long way off. Here’s a quick rundown of the major security-related initiatives that CompTIA is tracking:Cybersecurity Refo ...

In December of last year I reported that Senate Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell were in talks on how best to approach cybersecurity reform. Senator Reid expressed preference for a comprehensive and holistic approach, and Senator McConnell expressed a preference for a piecemeal approach to reform.So far, it appears that the piecemeal approach has prevailed. Senate Staff for the Commerce and Homeland Security Committees have begun floating several provisions of what may ultimate ...

I am quite certain this week will go down as a milestone for the Internet.  For several weeks opposition against the Stop Online Privacy Act and the Senate version Protect IP Act started snowballing and culminated into a day of protest by some of the Internet’s biggest companies, such as Wikipedia, Google, and Reddit to name a few. The protest called for a day of online blackouts.  Wikipedia shut down access to its website, and Google added a blackout banner over its iconic Google search engine. ...