Cornyn, Ratcliffe Partner On Bill To Secure Federal Agencies’ Cyber Networks

“Cyber-attacks are escalating at an alarming rate, making it vital that our federal agencies have access to programs and tools to help mitigate these risks,” Sen. Cornyn said.

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today introduced the Advancing Cybersecurity Diagnostics and Mitigation Act, which was led by Representative John Ratcliffe (TX-4) in the U.S. House of Representatives where it passed last month.

This legislation would help federal agencies update and improve their cyber posture.

“Cyber-attacks are escalating at an alarming rate, making it vital that our federal agencies have access to programs and tools to help mitigate these risks,” Sen. Cornyn said. “This legislation would help ensure the Department of Homeland Security can continue to rely on and evolve the CDM program to understand and defend against the cyber threats before them.”

“Codifying the CDM program at DHS will help ensure its ongoing success and improvement as an indispensable cybersecurity tool for protecting our federal networks. I’m grateful for Sen. Cornyn’s leadership in the Senate to advance this important legislation that will help ensure our national cybersecurity efforts keep pace with the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape,” said Rep. Ratcliffe.

Background:

The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program is run through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s National Protection and Programs Directorate and is meant to provide cyber capabilities to continuously monitor the networks of federal agencies. This bill would:

• Codify the work of the CDM program to date;
• Require the Secretary to make CDM capabilities available and develop policies for reporting cyber risks and incidents based upon data collected under CDM;
• Direct the Secretary to deploy new CDM technologies to continuously evolve the program;
• And require DHS to develop a strategy to ensure the program continues to adjust to the cyber threat landscape.