Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander on Tuesday voted for the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (S.754).
Senator Corker said, “There is no question that our nation faces a growing number of cyber threats. Cyber attacks target Tennesseans, their businesses, and our national interests, and it is critical that we? enable the private sector and government to work together to protect Americans from these attacks while also protecting privacy and civil liberties. This voluntary information-sharing bill is an important first step, and I am pleased the Senate overwhelmingly supported this bipartisan legislation.”
Senator Alexander said, “Americans are facing a greater number of sophisticated cyberattacks from around the world, and this legislation would give private entities a new tool to help protect Americans’ private information. It also includes a provision I co-authored that would take several steps, such as creating a task force, to help protect American patients’ health information from an increasing number of cyberattacks.”
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act would allow the private sector to voluntarily share information about cybersecurity threats with the government and other private entities. The legislation protects personal privacy by requiring the removal of personal information before any cybersecurity information is shared among private entities and the government.
The act also places a special emphasis on cybersecurity in the healthcare industry, where breaches have impacted more than 100 million Americans. Nearly 800,000 Tennesseans were impacted by a cyberattack in January involving Anthem, Inc.
The bill would also allow companies to take narrowly tailored “defensive measures” to prevent, detect, analyze and mitigate cybersecurity threats.
The legislation was reported by the Senate Intelligence Committee by a bipartisan vote of 14-1 on March 3 and was passed by the Senate on Tuesday by a bipartisan vote of 74 to 21. The House companion bill passed with a bipartisan vote of 307-116.