Cybersecurity bill to give president new emergency powers

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/83961-forthcoming-cybersecurity-bill-to-give-president-new-powers-in-cyberattack-emergencies

By Tony Romm  
The Hill
02/26/10 

The president would have the power to safeguard essential federal and 
private Web resources under draft Senate cybersecurity legislation.

According to an aide familiar with the proposal, the bill includes a 
mandate for federal agencies to prepare emergency response plans in the 
event of a massive, nationwide cyberattack.

The president would then have the ability to initiate those network 
contingency plans to ensure key federal or private services did not go 
offline during a cyberattack of unprecedented scope, the aide said.

Ultimately, the legislation is chiefly the brainchild of Sens. Jay 
Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the chairman and 
ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, respectively. Both 
lawmakers have long clamored for a federal cybersecurity bill, charging 
that current measures -- including the legislation passed by the House 
last year -- are too piecemeal to protect the country's Web 
infrastructure.

[...]


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