House Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman Dan Lungren, R-Calif., introduced a cybersecurity...

HR-3674, solidifies the roles and responsibilities of DHS in protecting against cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, Lungren said. By providing a trusted information-sharing structure, the bill provides “critical infrastructure owners and operators the timely access to actionable cybersecurity information necessary to protect their own networks and facilities.” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., also a bill sponsor, said the PRECISE Act “protects our critical infrastructure without a heavy-handed and burdensome regulatory approach that could cost American jobs.” The bill directs DHS to identify and evaluate risks on a continuous sector-by-sector basis. In its evaluation, the department should take into account factors like target attractiveness, deterrence capabilities, the extent and likelihood of “serious adverse effects to human health and safety” and harm to the economy, the bill said. As indicated in a draft issued last week, the bill creates the National Information Sharing Organization, a nonprofit organization that would serve as a “national clearinghouse for the exchange of cyber threat information” (WID Dec 7 p1). The entity would allow network operators in the private sector, state, local and tribal governments and the federal government to gain access to “timely and actionable information in order to protect their networks or systems as effectively as possible,” the bill said. “While I am not prepared to give my full support to the bill at this time, there’s a lot to like in this bill,” said Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. It gives DHS the authority and resources it needs to fulfill its cybersecurity mission “instead of creating a whole new bureaucracy or complicated regulatory framework."