Cybersecurity Bill Advances with Council Support

Bay Area businesses struggling with the challenges of protecting consumer data, intellectual property, and internal information systems against growing cyber threats may be one step closer to receiving valuable assistance from the federal government and their peers.  Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Cyber Information Sharing & Protection Act (CISPA), a bill which would make it easier for the federal government to share classified cyber threat information with approved American companies and would better enable the business community to defend their networks against such attacks. Working with the members of its Committee on Cybersecurity under the leadership of Chair Ellen Richey of Visa, the Bay Area Council urged the House to pass legislation that would break down barriers to threat sharing while preserving strong protections for personal information.  The Council worked with the bill sponsors early on and then helped Congressmen Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) build bi-partisan support for CISPA’s passage by publicly endorsing the bill, joining a number of other U.S. employers, industry associations, privacy advocates, and civil rights groups.