In May 2011, the White House announced a legislative proposal to enhance protections against cyber crime. The White House has two proposals for helping to protect individuals. First, the White House points to the patchwork of state law relating to data breach and seeks to enact a single federal legislative scheme outlining businesses' obligations in notifying their consumers when intruders gain access to consumers' personal information. Second, the President would enhance criminal penalties for cyber criminals and amend the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute to apply to cyber criminals.
The White House also has advanced proposals aimed at forging partnerships between the public and private sector in combating cyber crime. The Administration has encouraged Congress to adopt a statutory scheme by which private sector businesses can seek the assistance of the Department of Homeland Security for investigatory assistance when a business's security is breached. Conversely, the proposed legislation would incentivize private sector organizations to share information regarding potential cyber threats with the government.
Finally, the legislative proposal seeks to enhance the standards for cyber security within federal agencies' computing infrastructure in a number of ways, including centralizing management of government computer security, recruiting highly qualified cybersecurity professionals, installing intrusion prevention systems and incentivizing cloud computing.
Cybersecurity legislation that incorporates many of the White House proposals is currently under consideration by the House and Senate. The House is currently considering two pieces of cybersecurity legislation (H.R. 2658 and H.R. 3523). The House Intelligence Committee approved one such bill on December 1, 2011 (H.R. 3523). Members of the House Homeland Security Committee introduced another on December 16, 2011 (H.R. 2658). It is expected that the full House will continue to consider this legislation in the coming months. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) hopes to bring a yet-undrafted cybersecurity bill to the Senate floor in early 2012.
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