Lawmakers Rally Support for Cyber-Security Bill

Lawmakers are rallying support for anti-hacking legislation, as news of Chinese hackers breaching the U.S. Chamber of Commerce raises privacy concerns. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rodgers (R., Mich.) said the intrusion at the business-lobbying group highlights the need for the very legislation that passed out of committee earlier this month. The House Intelligence Committee approved the Cyber-Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, by a 17-to-1 vote, which exempts companies from liability for voluntarily disclosing hacking incidents and gives corporations access to data from the National Security Administration to help protect their networks. The Act continues this summer’s NSA pilot program. Telecommunications companies support the bill, hailing its legal protections as strong incentives for the private sector to cooperate with the government, but the White House and organizations like the ACLU warn the measure will let the government peruse citizens’ private information and insulate companies against consumer advocate lawsuits. As the debate over cyber-security and privacy rages on, details of attacks continue. Investigators determined intruders, likely located in China, had access to the Chamber’s three million corporate members, accessed 300 Internet addresses and stole emails of four employees who worked on Asia policy issues, increasing pressure on China to curb its alleged espionage, particularly industrial espionage. Today, after news of the hack leaked, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin denied his country’s involvement. “There’s nothing to be said about the baseless whipping up of so-called hacking and it won’t come to anything,” he told the press. “Chinese law bans hacking.” The Chamber breach follows other high-profile hacks on government contractor Lockheed Martin, financial giant Citigroup, and tech giant Google, all coming at a time when governmental agencies are trying to balance data security with civil liberties. Balancing these two values is proving exceedingly difficult, as the controversy over the Cyber-Intelligence Act and news of the Chamber of Commerce breach suggest. But as attacks increase in both number and severity, pressure mounts to respond definitively and cohesively to ward off the immediate threat and prevent future ones.