Bill to let DHS Monitor Internet Traffic on Gov Systems Advances

A Senate panel voted to set into law the Department of the Homeland Security's responsibility to monitor public Internet traffic on all government systems. The bill is designed to minimize the harm from breaches like those that hit the Office of Personnel Management. The federal government was admittedly slow to scan OPM networks for signs of threats that ultimately manifested in the loss of confidential records on 21.5 million federal employees, national security personnel and their families. Even after the attack, only 45 percent of agencies are using DHS’s network-surveillance technology, according to lawmakers. Under the new Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, DHS would be allowed to override an agency's objections to using the tool, called EINSTEIN. Within a year, DHS would have to deploy the technology "to detect cybersecurity risks in network traffic transiting or traveling to or from an agency information system," and to block that problematic Internet traffic, according to the bill.

During a meeting on July 29, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee made a few changes to the legislation, including adding privacy protections. Then, without objection, members passed the proposal by a roll call vote. The bill was introduced on Monday by committee Chairman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Ranking Member Sen Tom Carper (D-DE). There now are more civil liberties clauses in the bill. Within six months after being signed into law, DHS would have to report to Congress on "privacy controls" for the intrusion prevention technology, according to the legislation. And the department must "periodically update" a privacy impact assessment of the surveillance technology, the legislation states.