The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday, March 29 to consider the economic impact of cyber threats and vulnerabilities to the private sector.   Witnesses from government, the private sector  and security specialists will also be asked to examine the private sector’s role in protecting networks from cyber exploitation and theft.

Majority Leader Harry Reid had hoped to have consensus on a comprehensive cybersecurity bill to bring before the Senate in the coming months.  However, the seven committees with jurisdiction over various aspects of the issue could not reach agreement by Reid's March 15th deadline on what that national policy framework should look like.  Individual committee efforts are ongoing.  It is uncertain whether these individual bills will be combined into one comprehensive bill, or whether they will be considered individually.  But the urgency of the issue is still the rallying cry, and will be the central theme of Wednesday's hearing.

“Every day, cyber thieves are stealing our identities, our money, our business innovations and our national security secrets,” Chairman Rockefeller said. “They are trying to rob us of our economic and global competitiveness, and right now we’re not stopping them. There is too much at stake and no time to waste. I am committed to getting a cybersecurity bill passed this year.”

UTC continues to highlight three main issues: the need for a federal authority in the event of imminent cyber threat or attack (as opposed to vulnerabilities handled through the NERC process); the need to share timely and actionable threat/vulnerability information with asset owners; and the need to avoid duplicative or conflicting cyberstandards for the energy and water industries, which are subject to FERC, EPA and US Dept. of Transportation regulatory authorities, all of which are setting their own cybersecurity standards and procedures without coordination with other agencies.