In a post last month, Take on Payments highlighted recent cybersecurity-related executive orders. Cybersecurity has been a hot item inside the Beltway in 2015, and the activity hasn't been limited to the executive office. Beginning on April 22, the House passed two separate cybersecurity bills. And now all eyes are on the Senate, as it looks like a vote on its own cybersecurity bill is set to take place later in May. Today's Take On Payments post will highlight the two House bills recently passed by the House and the Senate's bill under consideration.

Protecting Cyber Networks Act (H.R. 1560)
This bill encourages the timely sharing of cyber threat information among private entities, nonfederal government agencies, and local governments. It provides businesses liability protection for sharing cyber threat indicators when taking reasonable efforts to remove personally identifiable information (PII). The bill also allows the federal government (excluding the National Security Agency and Department of Defense) to share cyber threat information with private entities, nonfederal government agencies, and local governments. To further promote and protect individual privacy, it requires that the Department of Justice (DOJ) periodically review the information shared to ensure that PII is not being received, used, or disseminated by a federal entity. Finally, this bill directs the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC), under the direction of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to serve as the primary organization to analyze and integrate all intelligence shared.

National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015 (H.R. 1731)
The purpose of this bill is to also encourage information sharing of cyber related risks among the private sector and government. Unlike its companion bill, which directs the CTIIC as the overseer of the information-sharing program, this bill authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to do so. In order for the DHS to serve in this capacity, the bill expands the composition and scope of the DHS national cybersecurity and communications integration center to include additional parties, namely private entities and information-sharing and analysis centers, among its non-federal representatives. As with H.R. 1560, the bill has provisions to protect individual privacy and requires that the DHS performs an annual privacy policies and procedures review. As with its companion House bill, liability protection is afforded to parties sharing information.

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) of 2015 (S. 754)
The Senate's version of cybersecurity legislation is a companion bill to the two recently passed House bills and combines tenets of both of them. It's viewed as an information-sharing bill, with the DHS serving as the federal entity responsible for overseeing the sharing of data between the government and private sector. The DOJ is responsible for ensuring that privacy and civil liberties are upheld within the information-sharing program. As with the House bills, liability protection is provided to all entities sharing information.

The goal of information sharing featured in these bills is the hope both government and private sector would benefit. As evidenced by the participation of a significant number of financial institutions (FIs) with the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, many FIs are seeing value to sharing cybersecurity information within their own sectors. Additionally, the Retail Industry Leaders Association established the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center earlier this year to share cyber threat information between retailers and law enforcement. Whether or not these bills accomplish the goals of creating a private environment to safely share cybersecurity information and risks, I think the payments industry and other private industries would benefit from sharing information among themselves and with government and law enforcement agencies.

Photo of David Lott By Douglas A. King, payments risk expert in the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed