Senate Cyber-security Bill Set for Markup

After months of revisions, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) released their latest Cybersecurity Act 2010, which would address the nation's flagging cyber-security efforts.

The Senate Commerce is expected to mark up the legislation March 24. The legislation is the culmination of nearly a year's worth of consultation and input from cyber-security experts in the private sector, government and civil liberties community. The legislation provides a framework for engagement and collaboration between the private sector and government on cyber-security while addressing earlier concerns about civil liberties, proprietary rights and confidential and classified information. The bill does not criminalize any conduct, contain any criminal law provisions or provide any resources for law enforcement agencies. It does require a report ad promotes cyber-security public awareness, education and research and development. The bill requires the president to collaborate with owners and operators of critical infrastructure IT systems, through the existing sector coordinating councils, to develop and rehearse detailed cyber-security emergency response and restoration plans. The explicit purpose of this section is to clarify roles, responsibilities and authorities of government and private sector actors in the event of a cyber-security emergency that threatens strategic national interests. The president's declaration of a cyber-security emergency would trigger the implementation of the collaborative emergency response and restoration plans.