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House Gives Green Light to Cyber-Security Bill – Protect Cyber Networks Act Approved in 307-116 Vote
The House of Representatives has given the go-ahead to a controversial cyber-security bill that encourages companies to share information about online threats both with other firms and the federal government.
The Protect Cyber Networks Act, which was approved Wednesday in a 307-116 vote, is the first major step taken by the government since the massive hacks last year on major corporations like Sony Entertainment, Home Depot and Target.
Oddly, the move was better favored by Republicans (202 votes) compared (105 votes) Democrats, despite President Barack Obama being so vocal about the need to give cyber-security more teeth.
The idea behind the bill is, the more companies that share data, the easier it will be for them and the government to defend against the ever-growing threat of data breaches.
“Voluntary information sharing with the federal government helps improve the government’s ability to protect America against foreign cyber threats,” reads the bill’s description. “It also gives our intelligence agencies tips and leads to help them find advanced foreign cyber hackers overseas. That intelligence allows the government to provide, in turn, even better cyber threat indicators back to the private sector to help companies protect themselves.”
The program includes numerous privacy protections to prevent over-sharing or government misuse of shared information. For instance, the program requires the removal of personal information prior to the sharing of cyber-threat data.
The bill must pass a vote in the full Senate before heading to the Congressional House of Representatives for approval. It must also get the OK from the president before becoming law.
This is not the first time such a bill has been pushed. Similar legislation, dubbed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, failed to pass through Congress in 2013 due to concerns on the amount of information it would permit companies to share.
Obama is not only pushing Congress to approve a bill to give cyber-security more bite, he has allocated $14 billion to his 2016 budget proposal to make it a reality.
If the $14 billion were to get the green light from Congress, the funds would be used to better protect the government and private sector from cyber-threats such as those that hit U.S. companies like Target and Sony Entertainment in 2014.
More details are offered up in Obama’s Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (CNCI), outlined on the White House’s website.
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources
House Gives Green Light to Cyber-Security Bill
Jennifer Cowan is the Managing Editor for SiteProNews.
The post House Gives Green Light to Cyber-Security Bill appeared first on SiteProNews.
Source: http://www.sitepronews.com/2015/04/23/house-gives-green-light-to-cyber-security-bill/
