Ensuring DHS is prepared to fight cyberattacks

[Commentary] Every day, our enemies are waging war against the United States, but those attacks are no longer confined to the physical battlefield in faraway lands. Instead, the constant barrage of cyberattacks from countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — not to mention cyberterrorists, including ISIS’s cyber caliphate, and hacktivists around the globe — threaten the economic, digital and national security of our Nation. The federal government isn’t the only entity susceptible to cyberattacks. American businesses are under attack, as dangerous hackers are putting jobs at risk by stealing trade secrets and sensitive information.

I was adamant that the recently-enacted Cybersecurity Act include key provisions of my legislation H.R. 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act. With this law, we now have the ability to be more efficient while protecting both our nation’s public and private networks. With these new cybersecurity authorities signed into law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will become the sole portal for companies to voluntarily share information with the federal government, while preventing the military and NSA from taking on this role in the future. With this strengthened information-sharing portal, it is critical that we provide incentives to private companies who voluntarily share known cyber threat indicators with DHS. This is why we included liability protections in the new law to ensure all participants are shielded from the reality of unfounded litigation. While security is vital, privacy must always be a guiding principle. Before companies can share information with the government, the law requires them to review the information and remove any personally identifiable information (PII) unrelated to cyber threats. Furthermore, the law tasks DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to jointly develop the privacy procedures, which will be informed by the robust existing DHS privacy protocols for information sharing.