sen mccaskill and cyber bill

[garyro]

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From: "Senator Claire McCaskill" <sen...@mccaskill.senate.gov> Date: 04/23/2013 03:03:20 EDT April 23, 2013 Dear Mr. Roller, Thank you for contacting me regarding cybersecurity.  I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond. The Internet has transformed the way our nation's industries and government operate, and it plays an increasingly large role in our economy.  Our critical infrastructure systems, such as banking, telecommunications, and energy grids, are now more interconnected than ever.  Observers commonly note that our nation has gone from "network enabled" to "network dependent."  As a result, we face an increased threat from cyber attacks that could have a devastating effect on the nation, impacting everything from our energy grid to the security of our financial institutions. Every day, millions of potentially damaging "phishing" emails are sent from seemingly "trustworthy" entities to unsuspecting individuals and small businesses with the intent to steal sensitive information, crash networks, or invade privacy.  Hackers, domestic and foreign, overrun websites with so much Internet traffic that websites are forced to shut down, depriving users and subscribers from important online services.  Some cyber activity is related to espionage, as foreign governments try to steal secrets, access national security information, disable government operations and more.  All of these actions jeopardize the free and lawful flow of commerce.  Accordingly, protecting our infrastructure systems from cyber threats has emerged as a top national security priority. As you may know, on February 12, 2013, President Obama signed an Executive Order aimed at bolstering cybersecurity protections for critical infrastructure networks by increasing information sharing between the government and private sector entities that run critical infrastructure networks.  The government will increase the volume, timeliness, and quality of cyber threat information shared with the private sector so that private sector entities can better protect themselves from cyber threats.  The Order also requires the federal government to draft voluntary cybersecurity standards.  In addition, Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan has reintroduced the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), H.R. 624, in the House of Representatives.  This bill would remove legal barriers that restrict information sharing between private sector companies and the federal government.  On April 18, 2013, CISPA was approved by the House of Representatives.  Should this legislation come to the Senate floor for a vote, I will be sure to keep your views in mind. Our laws must be modernized to properly address the risks and the scope of cyber threats.  However, we need to find a common-sense approach to protect our industries, businesses, and government from cybersecurity threats without restricting growth and innovation, imposing unnecessary heavy-handed regulation, or threatening the civil liberties and privacy of individuals.  Any new requirements that Congress enacts must be flexible enough to ensure both the public and private sector can react quickly to new or unrealized threats.  Further, new regulatory requirements designed to address cyber threats cannot be allowed to simply become paperwork exercises for the regulated entities while contributing very little in the way of enhancing security. In the past, I have voted to debate cybersecurity issues, which are critically important to both our national security and private sector, in the Senate.  I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find commonsense, compromise solutions that will serve to protect government and private sector interests from increasingly dangerous cyber threats. Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance to you on this or any other issue. Sincerely, Claire McCaskill United States Senator P.S. If you would like more information about resources that can help Missourians, or what I am doing in the Senate on your behalf, please sign up for my email newsletter at http://mccaskill.senate.gov.