In the News

House okays cybersecurity bills, tees up more

The House on Monday easily passed a pair of cybersecurity measures, including a bill that would require the Homeland Security Department to review its incident response plans and submit a report outline the specific roles of federal agencies.

Lawmakers approved the DHS Roles and Responsibilities in Cyber Space Act, 313-105. The measure, introduced by Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), came in the wake of last year’s ransomware attacks on the Colonial Pipeline and the meat processing giant JBS — events that prompted lawmakers to reassess digital authorities across several federal entities.

“The federal response to these cyber incidents was inadequate and exposed gaps and confusion in how we defend our critical infrastructure,” Bacon said in a statement. “It’s clear that our cyber incident response framework must evolve to match the threat.”

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