U.S. News: Key Cybersecurity Bill Inches Forward

 

 

“The clock is ticking on core federal cybersecurity legislation set to expire Sept. 30, as a divided Congress and a looming government shutdown threaten progress on a new bill that seeks to extend provisions encouraging cooperation in fighting hackers.

 

The decade-old Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, set the legal framework aimed at protecting companies that voluntarily share cyber threat intelligence with other businesses and the federal government, shielding them from antitrust and liability charges.

 

Sunsetting the legislation risks weakening cybersecurity defenses, in both business and government, by discouraging information-sharing about hacking tactics and other cyberattacks, cybersecurity experts said.

 

"Information sharing between the private and public sectors is a critical part of our nation's cybersecurity defense," said Chris Pierson, founder and chief executive of security firm BlackCloak.

 

Pierson, who served for more than a decade on the Department of Homeland Security's privacy and cybersecurity subcommittees, said CISA is needed "to ensure that there are no speed bumps that an adversary can take advantage of here, due to a knowledge gap."

 

On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee unanimously approved a revised version of CISA, renaming it the Widespread Information Management for the Welfare of Infrastructure and Government Act

 

The proposed bill, which would extend the legislation until 2035, includes updated language to reflect new hacking tactics, while boosting privacy and liability protections for companies, among other changes.

 

Democrats had called for an extension of the 2015 law while leaving any changes to be considered after the September deadline. "More improvements will be necessary as the legislative process moves forward," based on input by cybersecurity experts, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) told the committee.

 

The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.

 

Its path in the Senate remains unclear. Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), who will steer the new bill in the Senate as chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has said he would push to include a provision aimed at preventing the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency from censoring speech. Paul has accused the agency of pressuring social-media companies to remove certain political content, a claim the agency denies.

 

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Angus Loten writes about cybersecurity for WSJ Pro.” [1]

 

1. U.S. News: Key Cybersecurity Bill Inches Forward. Loten, Angus.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 06 Sep 2025: A5.