Cybersecurity Bill in US Senate Calls for Industry Rules
Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Companies running computer networks essential to U.S. economic and national security would be required to better defend their systems from spies, hackers and terrorists under bipartisan Senate legislation unveiled today.
The bill calls for identifying vital information networks and setting security requirements for companies and government agencies. Lawmakers and regulators say rules are needed to fight increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks capable of disrupting power grids, banks and communications networks.
“We are on the brink of what could be a calamity,” Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said in announcing the bill on the Senate floor. “A widespread cyber attack could potentially be as devastating to this country as the terror attacks that tore apart this country 10 years ago.”
The push for comprehensive cybersecurity legislation has intensified following attacks last year on companies including New York-based Citigroup Inc., the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, and Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense company.
