Cybersecurity Bill Offered Up as Amendment to NDAA

As the
Senate Armed Forces Committee works on
the latest iteration of the National Defense Authorization Act,
Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va) sees it as a good opportunity to
try again to pass cybersecurity legislation. He has submitted the
Cybersecurity Act of 2013, legislation passed in the Senate
Commerce Committee this summer after the failure of CISPA to gain
momentum. Though the legislation failed to pass Congress this
summer, the president issued an executive order to implement some
of the objectives anyway, or, as the Hill
reports:

The measure is far more modest than legislation that
Rockefeller and other Senate Democrats backed last year. That bill
would have pressured critical infrastructure companies, such as
banks and power plants, to meet minimum cybersecurity
regulations.

After opposition from Republicans killed last year’s bill,
President Obama issued an executive order instructing the Commerce
Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
to craft voluntary cybersecurity best-practices for critical
infrastructure companies.

Rockefeller’s amendment would codify the executive order into law.
It would also boost cybersecurity education, research and
development for cyber threats. 

The text of the two amendments Rockefeller submitted (among more
than 500 NDAA amendments) can be read here
and here.