DETROIT, MI – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement recognizing October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month:
“From work and school to staying connected with friends and family, our daily lives depend on being secure online. National Cybersecurity Awareness Month highlights how people, businesses, schools and governments can work to prevent cyber-attacks that can compromise everything from our national and economic security to sensitive personal information. By taking simple steps – like updating our devices regularly, enabling multifactor authentication, and using different strong passwords for every account – every one of us can protect ourselves from cybercriminals that continue launching persistent attacks against American networks.
“While we can all play a part in preventing network breaches that can disrupt our lives and livelihoods – our government must have an effective strategy to address cybersecurity threats across the board. I have been proud to lead some of the most significant updates to our nation’s cybersecurity policies in history and will continue my work to strengthen our nation’s cybersecurity defenses.”
To watch video of Senator Peters recognizing National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, click here.
Peters’ historic, bipartisan provision to require critical infrastructure owners and operators to report to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) if they experience a substantial cyber-attack or if they make a ransomware payment was signed into law. Peters’ bipartisan bill to enhance cybersecurity assistance to K-12 educational institutions across the country was also signed into law. Additionally, Senator Peters secured several provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure law to bolster cybersecurity – including $100 million fund to help victims of a serious breach recover quickly. Peters’ bipartisan bills to bolster cybersecurity for state and local governments, strengthen the federal cybersecurity workforce, and help secure federal information technology supply chains have been signed into law. Peters has also authored and passed significant reforms out of the Senate to require civilian federal agencies to report to CISA if they experience a substantial cyber-attack and ensure federal agencies can quickly and securely adopt cloud-based technologies that improve government operations and efficiency. The senator’s bipartisan bills to help secure open source software and require CISA to provide voluntary cybersecurity resources to commercial satellite owners and operators have advanced in the Senate.
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