Cybersecurity News

Strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity will be a priority for the Senate in 2013, according to a group of Democratic senators who on Wednesday introduced new legislation around the issue.

The bill, the Cybersecurity and American Cyber Competitiveness Act of 2013, was introduced by Sens. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), Tom Carper (Del.) and Dianne Feinstein (Cali.) and aims to take a comprehensive approach at securing U.S. networks to prevent the nation and its critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.

Calling on enhanced communication and collaboration between the public and private sectors, the legislation suggests that, if passed, new research and development investments would increase American competitiveness, create new jobs in information technology, and protect the identities and information of U.S. citizens and businesses.

“The threat of a cyber attack is real, and it is growing,” advised Sen. Feinstein in a statement. “Congress must act soon to improve the government’s ability to share and receive information on cyber attacks and threats with the private sector. Our national and economic security depend on robust information sharing.”

But for many, the call for strengthened partnerships and information sharing is not new. Critics of the bill are already comparing it to the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, which failed to pass the Senate late last year. Though, unlike its predecessor, the new legislation does not lay out a specific strategy or requirements for reformed cybersecurity.

“I was disappointed that Congress could not come together to pass bipartisan cybersecurity legislation that I co-authored in the last Congress,” said Sen. Carper, referring to the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. “Today’s legislation underscores our ongoing commitment to working to address cybersecurity and it will help lay the groundwork for a framework that can balance the needs and concerns of both government and the private sector – and keep Americans safe. Our nation cannot afford more delay on this issue.”

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Following are some additional cyber headlines you may have missed:

FEDERAL NEWS:

DARPA seeking to grow DoD cyber defense (SC Magazine)

U.S. homeland chief: cyber 9/11 could happen “imminently” (Reuters)

DC National Guard operationalizes cyberspace in support of inauguration (DVIDS)

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW:

Sony fined in Britain for cyber attack data breach (AFP)

Symantec’s new CEO said to plan 1,000 job cuts (Bloomberg)

GE rolls out cybersecurity solutions for industrial control systems (HSToday)

Radware releases global security report on new cyber attack methods (Press Release)

INTERNATIONAL  OUTLOOK:

EU gears up for cyber security overhaul (Deutsche Welle)

Italian government approves cybersecurity measures (Reuters)

India setting up national cyber security architecture (Economic Times)

President Putin orders FSB to protect media sites from cyber attack (RT)

Turkish Army says cyber defense unit established in 2012 (World Bulletin)

Cameron announces Britain to join NATO’s Cyber Defense Center (Atlantic Council)

PM: Australia’s security focus is Asia and reveals cybersecurity blueprint (Daily Telegraph)

HACKING HIGHLIGHTS:

Programming bootcamp turns lawyer into hacker (Wired)

School expels student for discovering vulnerability (Daily Caller)

Anonymous takes responsibility for govt website take-down (NPR)

Anonymous hacker gets 18 months for PayPal, MasterCard attacks (PC Magazine)

CYBER INSIGHTS:

What the future without passwords could look like (NextGov)

How public distrust is affecting cybersecurity strategies (SC Magazine)

CIOs make tough calls on the cost of cybersecurity (Wall Street Journal)

One-third of cyber attack traffic originates in China, report finds (Bloomberg)

Cyber attack fatality ‘is possible and plausible’ (Engineering & Technology Magazine)

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