H.R. 624 is currently being considered by Congress for enhancing Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing. Below is a summary of the proposed legislation. The bill passed the House April 18, 2013, and was referred to the Senate.
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act
Section 2 –
Directs the federal government to conduct cybersecurity activities to provide shared situational awareness enabling integrated operational actions to protect, prevent, mitigate, respond to, and recover from cyber incidents.
Defines “shared situational awareness” as an environment where cyber threat information is shared in real time between all designated federal cyber operations centers to provide actionable information about all known cyber threats.
Directs the President, with respect to information shared by a cybersecurity provider (a non-federal entity that provides goods or services intended to be used for cybersecurity purposes) or self-protected entity (an entity that provides goods or services for cybersecurity purposes to itself), to designate:
(1) an entity within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the civilian federal entity to receive cyber threat information under prescribed procedures and subject to specified exceptions, and
(2) an entity within the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the civilian federal entity to receive information related to cybersecurity crimes.
Requires federal agencies receiving shared cyber threat information to establish procedures to:
(1) ensure that specified information is also shared in real time with appropriate federal agencies with a national security mission;
(2) ensure real-time information distribution to other federal agencies; and
(3) facilitate information sharing, interaction, and collaboration among and between federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, cybersecurity providers, and self-protected entities.
Directs the DHS, Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and Department of Defense (DOD) to jointly establish and periodically review policies and procedures governing the receipt, retention, use, and disclosure of non-publicly available cyber threat information shared with the federal government.
Requires such procedures, consistent with the need to protect against and mitigate cyber threats in a timely manner, to:
(1) minimize the impact on privacy and civil liberties;
(2) reasonably limit the receipt, retention, use, and disclosure of cyber threat information associated with specific persons that is unnecessary to protect against or mitigate cyber threats in a timely manner;
(3) include requirements to safeguard non-publicly available cyber threat information that may be used to identify specific persons from unauthorized access or acquisition;
(4) protect the confidentiality of cyber threat information associated with specific persons; and
(5) not delay or impede the flow of cyber threat information necessary to defend against or mitigate a cyber threat.
Instructs:
(1) the DHS, Attorney General, DNI, and DOD to submit such procedures to Congress and establish a program to monitor and oversee the compliance of federal agencies; and
(2) federal agencies to implement such procedures and notify such officials and Congress of any significant violations.
Prohibits such procedures from being construed to prohibit any federal agency from engaging in technical discussions regarding cyber threat information with a cybersecurity provider or self-protected entity or from providing technical assistance to address vulnerabilities or mitigate threats at their request. Requires any such activity to be coordinated with DHS and other agencies.
Directs the President’s designated DHS entity to share with all appropriate federal agencies all significant information resulting from: (1) technical discussions with a cybersecurity provider or self-protected entity about cyber threat information, or (2) any technical assistance it provides to such cybersecurity provider or such self-protected entity to address vulnerabilities or mitigate threats.
Directs the DHS Inspector General to submit annually to Congress a review of the use of such information shared with the federal government, as well as recommendations for improvements and modifications to address privacy and civil liberties concerns.
Requires the DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to submit to Congress an annual report assessing the privacy and civil liberties impact of the federal government’s cyber threat information sharing activities.
Section 3 –
Amends the National Security Act of 1947 to add provisions concerning cyber threat intelligence and information sharing.
Defines “cyber threat intelligence” as intelligence in the possession of an element of the intelligence community directly pertaining to:
(1) a vulnerability of a system or network of a government or private entity or utility;
(2) a threat to the integrity, confidentiality, or availability of such a system or network or any information stored on, processed on, or transiting such a system or network;
(3) efforts to deny access to or degrade, disrupt, or destroy such a system or network; or
(4) efforts to gain unauthorized access to such a system or network, including for the purpose of exfiltrating information.
Excludes intelligence pertaining to efforts to gain unauthorized access to such a system or network that solely involve violations of consumer terms of service or consumer licensing agreements and do not otherwise constitute unauthorized access.
Requires the DNI to: (1) establish procedures to allow intelligence community elements to share cyber threat intelligence with private-sector entities and utilities, and (2) encourage the sharing of such intelligence.
Requires the procedures established to ensure that such intelligence is only:
(1) shared with certified entities or a person with an appropriate security clearance;
(2) shared consistent with the need to protect U.S. national security;
(3) used in a manner that protects such intelligence from unauthorized disclosure; and
(4) used, retained, or further disclosed by a certified entity for cybersecurity purposes.
Provides guidelines for the granting of security clearance approvals to certified entities or officers, employees, or independent contractors of such entities.
Prohibits a certified entity receiving such intelligence from further disclosing the information to any entity other than another certified entity or a federal agency authorized to receive such intelligence.
Authorizes a cybersecurity provider, with the express consent of a protected entity (an entity that contracts with a cybersecurity provider), to:
(1) use cybersecurity systems to identify and obtain cyber threat information in order to protect the rights and property of the protected entity; and
(2) share cyber threat information with any other entity designated by the protected entity, including, if specifically designated, the DHS and DOJ entities designated by the President. Provides cybersecurity system use and threat information sharing authority to self-protected entities.
Sets forth requirements with respect to the use and protection of shared information, including anonymization or minimization of such information and prohibiting the use of such information to gain a competitive advantage and, if shared with the federal government, exempts such information from public disclosure and prohibits the use of such information for regulatory purposes. Specifies that a non-federal recipient may only use such information for a cybersecurity purpose.
Prohibits a civil or criminal cause of action against a protected entity, a self-protected entity, or a cybersecurity provider acting in good faith under the above circumstances.
Prohibits such shared information requirements from being construed to provide new authority to:
(1) a cybersecurity provider to use a cybersecurity system to identify or obtain cyber threat information from a system or network other than a system or network owned or operated by a protected entity for which such cybersecurity provider is providing goods or services for cybersecurity purposes, or
(2) a self-protected entity to use a cybersecurity system to identify or obtain cyber threat information from a system or network other than a system or network owned or operated by such self-protected entity.
Allows the federal government to use shared cyber threat information for:
(1) cybersecurity purposes to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, availability, or safeguarding of a system or network;
(2) the investigation of cybersecurity crimes; or
(3) the protection of individuals from the danger of death or serious bodily harm and the prosecution of crimes involving such dangers (including the protection of minors from child pornography, sexual exploitation, kidnapping, and trafficking).
Prohibits the federal government from affirmatively searching such information for any other purpose.
Prohibits the federal government from using certain personally identifiable information shared from sensitive personal documents such as library records, firearms sales records, educational records, tax returns, and medical records. Requires a federal agency receiving information that is not cyber threat information to so notify the entity or provider of such information. Prohibits federal agencies from retaining shared information for any unauthorized use.
Outlines federal government liability for violations of restrictions on the disclosure, use, and protection of voluntarily shared information.
Preempts any state statute that restricts or otherwise regulates specified activity authorized by this Act.
States that nothing in this section shall be construed to:
(1) provide additional authority to, or modify existing authority of, any element of the intelligence community to control or direct the cybersecurity efforts of a private-sector entity or a component of the federal government or a state, local, or tribal government;
(2) limit or affect existing information sharing relationships of the federal government;
(3) preclude the federal government from requiring an entity to report significant cyber incidents under another provision of law; or
(4) provide additional authority to, or modify existing authority of, any entity to use a cybersecurity system owned or controlled by the federal government on a private-sector system or network to protect the latter system or network.
Prohibits this section from being construed to authorize the DOD, National Security Agency (NSA), or any other intelligence community element to target a U.S. person for surveillance.
Section 4 –
Repeals amendments made by this Act five years after enactment of this Act.
Section 5 –
Expresses the sense of Congress that international cooperation with regard to cybersecurity should be encouraged wherever possible.
Section 6 –
Prohibits this Act from being construed to provide new or alter any existing authority for an entity to sell personal information of a consumer to another entity for marketing purposes.
Section 7 –
Prohibits this Act from being construed to authorize a federal agency to require a federally contracted cybersecurity provider to provide information about cybersecurity incidents that do not pose a threat to the federal government’s information.
