Gardner proposes enlisting hackers to help protect State Department

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) on June 12 sponsored bipartisan legislation that proactively pursues new and cost-effective ways to bolster national defenses and protect the U.S. State Department, its data and its employees.

Sen. Gardner introduced the Hack Your State Department Act, S. 1808, with bill cosponsor U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) to design and establish a Vulnerability Disclosure Process to improve cybersecurity and a bug bounty program to identify and report information technology weaknesses at the State Department, according to the congressional record.

“We need to be doing everything we can to make sure the State Department’s cyber defenses are hardened and can thwart cyber-attacks from bad actors that wish to do our country harm,” Sen. Gardner said.

If enacted, S. 1808 would create the bug bounty program to employ pre-screened professionals to hack the State Department in order to identify any cybersecurity exposures. The professional hackers would be compensated for identifying and disclosing vulnerabilities, according to a summary of the bill provided by Sen. Gardner’s office.

There also would be a disclosure process created to allow the general public to report cybersecurity issues to the State Department, according to the summary.

“This bipartisan bill will allow the general public to contribute to our nation’s cyber defenses and will result in a more secure cyber network at the State Department,” said the senator on Wednesday.

S. 1808 is modeled on the successful Hack the Department of Homeland Security program that Sen. Gardner helped create, his staff said.

The measure has been referred for consideration to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.