New bipartisan legislation is in the works to help protect Americans from the ever-increasing threat of cyberattackers, Sen. Richard Burr said in Saturday's weekly
GOP address.
"This threat is real, and the increasing number of attacks has a tangible impact on our economy and our national security," the North Carolina Republican said. "Today, we have a solution that can minimize the threats to your own personal information, keep the economy strong, and help secure the nation."
Story continues below video.
Burr, who is the new chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, co-sponsored the bipartisan Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 with Vice Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The measure was approved by a 14-1 vote in committee and is heading for Senate discussion.
The act creates a "cybersecurity information sharing environment that works much like a neighborhood watch program," Burr explained Saturday, which will allow participants to get a better understanding of the current cybersecurity threats that may be used against them.
The bill, which advanced last month, hopes to encourage private companies to and the government to share data in hopes of preventing and responding quickly to cybersecurity threats, according to
Wired.
It follows last year's Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act, which failed, and critics say the new bill will create a legal framework that will allow companies to monitor Internet users and share the information it collects with the government.
After the March committee vote, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden — the only dissenting vote — said he is concerned about privacy protections.
“If information-sharing legislation does not include adequate privacy protections then that’s not a cybersecurity bill — it’s a surveillance bill by another name,” Wyden wrote at the time.
On Saturday, Burr pointed out that personal data has continued to come under attack from criminals and hackers and even from agents of foreign powers, and that "it could even be all three."
"Cyber attackers, often in other countries, are cracking into the vaults of our companies and our government," Burr said. "They’re stealing your personal information as well as the intellectual property that makes our economy the most creative and vibrant in the world."
It's estimated that the direct financial loss and theft of intellectual property costs the United States economy hundreds of billions of dollars every year, but "It doesn't have to be that way," said Burr.
"There are steps Congress can take to help both government and the private sector understand these attacks better, and warn each other about them," he said, explaining that those steps are why his committee passed the bill.
The biggest weakness, said Burr, is that America's citizens and private entities don't have real-time insight about cyber-attacks.
He acknowledged that there are many who are concerned about privacy issues surrounding the bill, there are steps being taken to keep users' information private while ensuring 'that's the case on the government's end as well."
Information sharing will be voluntary, said Burr; nobody will be forced to share information in any way.
Further, he said that the bill requires companies to remove private data before sharing anything with the government.
"No company is allowed to share data unless it is directly related to the cyber-attack itself," Burr said.
Burr noted that after hundreds of calls through the government, business community, and civil liberties groups, he, McCain, and Feinstein have "put together a balanced approach that will help your private information stay just that way — private."
"This threat is real, and the increasing number of attacks has a tangible impact on our economy and our national security," concluded Burr. "Today, we have a solution that can minimize the threats to your own personal information, keep the economy strong, and help secure the nation."
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Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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