Activity Background

Symantec Makes Congressional Rounds for Cyber Security

September 16, 2009 John W. Thompson, chairman, Symantec, was in Washington D.C., meeting with Members of Congress to press them a raft of cyber security bills currently under consideration at various stages in the legislative process.

Specifically, he and Symantec’s government relations team met with:

• Rep. Bill Delahunt, (D-MA)
• Rep. Linda Sanchez, (D-CA)
• Sen. Mark Begich, (D-AK)
• Rep. Richie Neal, (D-MA)
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI)
• Rep. Adam Smith, (D-WA)
• Rep. Jackie Speier, (D-CA)
• Rep. Mike McCaul, (R-TX)
• Rep. Rick Boucher, (D-VA)
• Rep. Mel Watt, (D-NC)

The issues discussed included:

• The need for the passage of a national data breach law, specifically including a safe harbor provision to protect companies against frivolous lawsuits if they made extensive cyber security efforts such as the use of encryption to protect data.
• Passage of patent reform that provides strong IP protection, ensures appropriate jurisdictions for cases rather than remote, plaintiff-friendly courts, and ensures that damages are proportion to the alleged harm.
• Development and passage of a national cyber security law that will better position the federal government to coordinate with and work with private industry to combat national cyber security attacks, protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure and online information for businesses and individuals alike.
• Updating the Federal Information Security Management Act. Originally passed in 2002, the law is sorely in need of being updated in proportion to the latest cyber threats that have appeared and propagated since the laws inception.
  • Agency CISOs should have the authority to enforce security requirements over agency networks and systems.
  • Agency CISOs should be accountable for identifying and mitigating cyber risks.