House advances Bacon’s bill to protect private industry from cyberattacks

Bipartisan legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) that would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report on the cybersecurity roles and responsibilities of the federal government on Monday received approval from the U.S. House of Representatives and on Tuesday advanced to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

“I thank members from both parties for supporting this legislation, which will guide necessary improvements to our federal incident response plans on private-sector businesses and commercial operators of our critical infrastructure across the country,” Rep. Bacon said.

The House voted 313-105 to pass the DHS Roles and Responsibilities in Cyber Space Act, H.R. 5658, which Rep. Bacon introduced in October 2021 with original cosponsors U.S. Reps. John Katko (R-NY), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), and Ritchie Torres (D-NY). 

If enacted, H.R. 5658 would require DHS to develop a strategy that reviews cyber-response policies and recommends improvements to ensure federal cyber-incident response plans are updated to match rapidly evolving threats, according to a bill summary provided by the congressman’s office.

“A close partnership between the federal government and the private sector is vital to countering cyberattacks from other countries that threaten our national security, economy and way of life,” said Rep. Bacon.

H.R. 5658 addresses recent and increasing reports of ransomware attacks that have negatively impacted the operations of certain private-sector companies across America, the summary says.

“This is another reason why my cybersecurity bill should be enacted into law. American companies are being attacked and it’s unacceptable,” Rep. Bacon said. “If we want to remain a global leader, more must be done to ensure we are prepared to defend our businesses and defeat these attacks.”

The Senate on May 17 referred H.R. 5658 to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for consideration.