Forecast for cybersecurity bills looks cloudy in reconvened Congress

Passage of bills to better protect computer networks and the nation's electric grid from attacks is uncertain in a reconvened Congress because lawmakers are undecided over how to bring private industry onboard, the leader of a House Homeland Security subpanel said recently.

Three key cybersecurity bills -- the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense; Cybersecurity; and Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset acts -- are likely to stall during Congress' lame-duck session, said Rep Yvette Clarke (D-NY) during the information security convention SC World Congress last week. This means the federal government will continue to lack a clear legislative mandate on which agencies are in charge of safeguarding networks and how much private companies should be regulated, amid heightened rhetoric about information security threats, said Rep Clarke, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology.