Committee Hearings – Week of 11-10-19

This week both the House and Senate will be in Washington. Of course impeachment hearings will be all in the news, but there are two cybersecurity hearings that may be of interest; one a markup and one an oversight hearing.

Cybersecurity Markup

On Wednesday the Senate Commerce, Science, and Technology Committee will hold a business meeting where 22 bills, four nominations and a routine Coast Guard promotion list will be considered. Among the bills being considered in HR 2775, the Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education (HACKED) Act of 2019.

This bill was introduced last week, and the official copy of the language has yet to be printed. The hearing page has a link to a committee print of the bill. It addresses a wide range of existing cyber training programs. I have not had a chance to peruse it in detail, but there is little in the way of specific reference to control system security training issues beyond a brief mention of issues with automated driving systems.

Cybersecurity Oversight

On Thursday the Technology Modernization Subcommittee of the House Veterans Affairs Committee will hold an oversight hearing on “Cybersecurity Challenges and Cyber Risk Management at the Department of Veterans Affairs.” A witness list has not yet been published.

The hearing web page notes that: “The purpose of the hearing is to assess how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) manages its cybersecurity program, including controlling access to confidential data, supply-chain management, and the safeguarding of information technology assets.” I guess that means that medical device security issues will not be a major (probably not even a minor) issue in the hearing.