Monday, April 30, 2012

BEN QUAYLE - Cyber Security: Protecting America from Foreign Enemies


Over the past two decades we have experienced the benefits of a dramatically more interconnected world. Vast amounts of information are now at our fingertips, and easier to find, share and move than ever before.



This digital age has brought with it a boom in productivity and innovation. Unfortunately, it has also created new threats. Foreign nation-states, and any number of sinister organizations, are able to threaten our country, without risking a military engagement by targeting vital security and cyber infrastructure. American intellectual property of all kinds is regularly pirated and misused, not by corporate espionage agents physically infiltrating a company, but by anonymous hackers thousands of miles away. Congress considered legislation yesterday to counter this growing threat.


CISPA, as the legislation is known, provides vital security and privacy protections against foreign cyber attacks, which are coming every day from nations like China, Russia and Iran. Without CISPA, private companies targeted by these attacks are not allowed to voluntarily share information about these security breaches with federal agencies charged with defending America's national security. This is absurd, and it puts Americans in danger.

The nature of the attacks our enemies use is constantly changing. It is up to us to adapt and face down these threats however they evolve. Certainly, we must be careful to protect the privacy of individuals as we move forward. To that end, I introduced an amendment to the legislation to further strengthen privacy provisions in the bill. I'm proud to report that this amendment passed with nearly unanimous support in the House -- 410 to 3.




Paid for by Quayle for Congress

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