The House closed out their Cybersecurity Week Friday by
passing two more cybersecurity bills. Both dealt with research issues and one
may actually have a minimal impact on control system security issues. HR 2096,
the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act
of 2011, passed by a vote of 395-10;
certainly a bipartisan vote, especially since all of the ‘Nays’ were Republican.
HR 3834, the Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research
and Development Act of 2012, passed by a voice vote.
Cyber-Physical Systems
HR
3834 introduces the term ‘cyber-physical systems’ to describe a wide range
of control and monitoring systems. These systems are added to the list of
research topics addressed in amends the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991.
Unfortunately this act does not provide any specific funding for these research
priorities so the money has to come out of existing priorities.
Oh well, control systems are now at least considered in a
piece of cybersecurity legislation.
Moving Forward
As I mentioned yesterday, neither of these bills is in any
way controversial, they don’t cost any real money, so they can be expected to
be passed relatively easily in the Senate. They will also allow everyone to
point to them as proof that the Congress takes cybersecurity seriously and has
actually done something about it.
Having accomplished so much this week both the
House and Senate will take a previously scheduled two-week recess.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment