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This week, the Senate Intelligence Committee passed the "Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act" by a vote of 14-1. This is good news for utilities, because the bill would make it easier for them to share cyber information with the government and it would protect them from liability. The actual text of the bill was not available, but the bill reportedly directs sharing of classified and unclassified data with the private sector; authorizes private entities to monitor networks for customers for cybersecurity purposes, and to monitor networks with protections from liability; requires the Department of Homeland Security to establish a "portal" as the "primary government capability to quickly accept cyber threat indicators and defensive measures through electronic means"; and requires reports on implementation and privacy impacts by "agency heads, Inspectors General, and the Privacy [and] Civil Liberties Oversight Board to ensure that cyber threat information is properly received, handled, and shared by the government." The bill also includes antitrust protections for sharing of information between private parties, liability protections for private parties sharing information with the government, and provisions to empower the government to share information with the private sector.
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