GOP REPORT EMBRACES ISA CYBER POLICIES
At the beginning of the current Congress, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) appointed a high-level Task Force to make recommendations for cybersecurity legislation. The ISA was the first witness called by the House Task Force to provide recommendations.
On October 5, 2011, the House Cybersecurity Task Force released its report, which largely mirrors the ISA recommendations. For example, the very first of the GOP recommendations was for Congress to create a “menu of market incentives tied to the voluntary adoption of cyber security measures,” which is the core ISA policy position and taken verbatim from ISA’s “Social Contract” and “Social Contract 2.0″ as well as from ISA Congressional Testimonies.
In addition to adopting this core ISA policy position, the House Task Force included a number of other ISA policy suggestions as part of their recommendations, such as:
- The notion that regulation cannot keep pace with technological change;
- The realization that not one set of cybersecurity standards will not apply equally across industries or even businesses;
- Streamlined regulation, licensing, and permitting as an incentive;
- Exploration of mechanisms to promote the usage of cyber insurance;
- Tying taxes and grants to adoption of cybersecurity best practices and measures; and
- Limited liability for good actors;
The House has already begun to implement these recommendations into legislation. For example, the Rogers (R-MI) – Ruppersberger (D-MD) Bill, H.R. 3523, passed on a bipartisan vote of 248-168, utilizes liability incentives to encourage sharing of information among and between industry and government.
Following subsequent ISA testimony, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Internet and Technology formed a bipartisan task force to examine the usage of market incentives in enhancing cybersecurity. On June 19, 2012, Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) met with the ISA Board and asked its members to help in developing this construct so that additional legislative action in this direction will be ready for the new Congress.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION – RELATED LINKS
ISA Testimony Leads to Bipartisan Cyber Incentives Effort