WASHINGTON – Support for The Cybersecurity Act of 2012, S. 2105, continues to accumulate with a new endorsement from a global internet service provider that could be covered critical infrastructure under the bill.
Level 3 Communications, one of the leading Internet service providers in the world, delivered its praise in a letter to the bill’s original co-sponsors – Senators Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Ca.
“Development of a known, understood, and comprehensive framework and authorities, as well as a road map for enhancing security in federal networks and critical infrastructure is long overdue,” the letter said.
Level 3 “supports the recently released Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and is in favor of bi-partisan legislation that protects our country from cyber attacks that could cripple activities from our military defenses to our critical infrastructure…
“Once passed, the Act will assist the industry in protecting critical infrastructure in a manner that incorporates the flexibility needed in the quickly changing technology market. The framework proposal can help us address the many policy and technology issues we are likely to encounter in the future in the rapidly changing IT environment.”
The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 has been three years in the making and its outlines and multiple drafts were shared with Members of Congress, industry stakeholders, academics, civil liberties and privacy experts, and security experts. Hundreds of changes have been made to the bill as a result of their input.
More than 20 hearings on cybersecurity have been held across at least seven different Senate committees, with dozens more held on questions relating to cybersecurity.
Markups of cyber legislation have been held in five separate committees, each under the rules for regular order. In the last Congress, both the Homeland Security and Commerce Committees passed comprehensive cybersecurity legislation that contains many of the ideas in the legislation.
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