Review - S 3618 Introduced – Cybersecurity Exemptions

Earlier this month, Sen Wyden (D,OR) introduced S 3618, the Federal Cybersecurity Oversight Act of 2022. The bill would slightly revise the process for exempting federal agencies from select information system cybersecurity requirements outlined in 6 USC 1523 while setting a time limit for those exemptions and establishing reporting requirements for those exemptions.

Wyden is not a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there is probably not enough influence to see this bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in the bill that would engender any significant opposition. The bill would likely advance in Committee with significant bipartisan support if considered.

This bill will not move to the floor of the Senate under regular order. It is not important enough to take up that much time, particularly as the mid-term elections approach. This bill might be able to pass in the Senate if considered under the unanimous consent process.

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-3618-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 2-9-22

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in Washington, there were 82 bills introduced. One of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

S 3618 A bill to amend the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 to require Federal agencies to obtain exemptions from certain cybersecurity requirements in order to avoid compliance with those requirements, and for other purposes.

I suspect that this is a housekeeping bill and will probably not be covered here, but I will be watching it for language and definitions that would include control system security issues within the scope of the bill.