US Cyber Security Chiefs Support Mandatory Incident Reporting

The US government’s top cyber security officials have endorsed the idea of new legislation that would make private sector companies report when they have been hacked. “We absolutely agree it’s long past time to get cyber incident reporting legislation out there,” Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency chief Jen Easterly (pictured) said during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing.

The Director of the US cyber security enforcement agency “is a huge supporter” of bipartisan legislation to mandate that operators of critical infrastructure report data breaches to the government.

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said she backs draft legislation from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to require certain private companies, federal agencies and government contractors to report cyber attacks to the agency.

The proposed legislation is partly in response to a surge of major cyber attacks that targeted government agencies and critical industries.

The hacks increased pressure on the Biden administration to bolster U.S. cyber defences and fuelled calls for federal legislation to require companies to share incidents with the federal government to assist in response and recovery.
The panel’s chairman, Michigan Democrat Gary Peters, told Bloomberg that he hopes to incorporate feedback from the hearing and introduce the bill in the coming weeks.

An increase in cyber attacks, particularly from ransomware, has hit the private sector particularly hard, which owns and operates 85% of critical infrastructure.

Meanwhile, similar legislation has been added to the must-pass defence authorisation measure scheduled to pass the House this week. “The earlier that CISA, the federal lead for asset response, receives information about a cyber incident, the faster we can conduct urgent analysis and share information to protect other potential victims,” Easterly said in written testimony for the committee’s hearing.

The mandatory report should include digital supply chain and ransomware attacks, Easterly said said.

• Cyber incident reporting should be timely, Easterly said, “ideally within 24 hours of detection.” This is in contrast to a  draft bill from thee Republican party which proposes a 72-hour time frame for reporting.

• Incident reporting should also be “broad-based and not limited to type or sector,” Easterly said, adding that CISA and the US

• The Department of Justice should have joint authority over reviewing the reports from critical infrastructure operators as well as from federal agencies and government contractors.

Chris Inglis, the former NSA chief and newly installed US National Cyber Director, said at the hearing that cyber incident reporting would be “profoundly useful” and would be helpful in preventing future cyberattacks.

Both Easterly and Inglis said they supported fines on companies as an enforcement mechanism for not reporting cyber attacks.

Easterly, though, expressed scepticism towards the idea of using subpoenas for enforcements as proposed in the Republican bill. “My personal view is that it is not an agile enough mechanism to allow us to get the information that you need to share it as rapidly as possible to prevent other potential victims,” she said.

The Record:   Bloomberg;     Bloomberg:     Insurance Journal:      Image: CISA

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