Congress to grill Homeland Security on cyberweaknesses
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Blog: A congressional panel has been investigating how the agency handles threats to its own network. On Wednesday, it's set to put the department's top tech official on the spot.
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The Department of Homeland Security  named an acting U.S. cybersecurity chief on Thursday as  Congress weighed whether to give the position greater clout to  fight hackers, viruses and other online threats.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Congress can help protect residents against identity theft by passing a data breach notification bill that would also require companies to use reasonable security practices, officials from cybersecurity vendor Symantec said Tuesday. Robert Clyde, Symantec's vice president of technology, called on Congress to pass a data breach notification bill that would require organizations to report data breaches when there's a reasonable risk of identity theft. U.S. lawmakers introduced about a dozen bills requiring data breach notification after a series of breaches in early 2005, but legislation stalled largely over committee jurisdictional squabbles. About 30 states have passed breach notification laws, most of them since 2005. U.S. lawmakers have introduced four data breach notification bills since January. Private companies want one standard they can follow instead of dozens, Clyde said. "Having every state do their own data breach law ... starts to get out of control real quick," he said. "You put a huge burden on companies." In the last couple of years, Symantec has seen a change in cyber attacks, prompting the need for legislation. Gone are the days when attackers created viruses or worms simply for bragging rights; now, the majority of cyberattacks are targeted at stealing money, Clyde said. In many cases, the attacks are done with stealth in mind, with the criminals hoping to milk credit card accounts for months, he said. Often, ID thieves will take $5 or $10 from a credit card account every month, and most people won't notice the small charges, Clyde added. "The motive [of hackers] has changed from show-off to taking money," Clyde said during a briefing in Washington, D.C. Symantec called on Congress to pass a data breach bill that would include language requiring organizations to deploy standard security protections. "We'd like to see legislation be more proactive," said Tiffany Olson Jones, senior regional manager for North and Latin American government relations at Symantec. Part of the problem with passing a bill last year is that some of the legislation became too expansive and included several privacy measures, Clyde said. A simple data breach bill that focuses only on security breaches should have the best chance of passage, he said. Symantec endorsed the Data Accountability and Trust Act, introduced earlier this month by Representatives Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, and Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican. The bill, in addition to requiring breach notifications to affected customers, would authorize the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to draw up data privacy requirements for businesses, including requirements that they have vulnerability assessments and policies for disposing of obsolete data. After a company reports a data breach, the FTC would conduct an audit of its security practices, and the bill would require data brokers to disclose the information they hold on individuals and allow individuals to correct wrong information. Symantec also called on Congress to pass an antispyware bill. Several ways that spyware steals information, such as keystroke logging, isn't expressly prohibited in other cybersecurity laws, Clyde said.
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Members of the U.S. Congress introduced a flurry of new technology-related bills this week, including two bills that would require companies with data breaches to notify affected customers.
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is planning a large-scale test of the nation's response to a cyberattack, to be held in early 2008.
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SEPTEMBER 15, 2004  - SAN MATEO, Calif. -- The Department of Homeland Security is actively planning several new pilot projects that officials hope will help solve one of the most pressing cybersecurity
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Listen to live coverage of the House hearing on DHS's cyber-security woes at Wired News Threat Level blog.
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Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren says bureaucratic miscues continue to hamstring serious government action to combat cyberattacks.
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Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will hold a hearing on Capitol Hill on June 20 to discuss the findings of an investigation into the agency's own problems in battling electronic attacks and IT systems intrusions.
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The U.S. Congress should proceed cautiously while considering bills to authorize a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program because of the potential impact on the technology industry, a tech trade group said Friday.
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U.S. lawmakers on Thursday plan to   shine a spotlight on Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HPQ.N snooping   into the telephone records of some board members and   journalists, a practice that Congress may soon ban.
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American lawmakers are close to outlawing the making of spyware that smuggles its way on to your PC.
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Jerry Archer asks whether Congress has the stomach to tackle big problems looming in cyberspace.
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The US has a new head of cyber security, amid concerns about the Bush administration&#39;s commitment to protecting computer networks from attack.
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Measures to curb the use of "spyware" -- the computer programs that surreptitiously track people's online movements -- are steamrolling their way through Congress and a combined proposal could reach the President's desk before lawmakers break for the November election.
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Lawmakers are on alert as hackers increase attacks on US infrastructure.
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Government agencies need to better protect themselves against cybersecurity problems after congressional hearings and reports exposed weaknesses in 2007.