From: Scientific American
The basics of the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA)
Yesterday, after more than a year of bickering, stalling and revising, the Senate passed its most significant cybersecurity bill to date 74–21. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) is a controversial measure to encourage businesses and government agencies to share information related to malicious hackers and their methods.
Government and industry have talked about such information sharing for more than a decade. The House of Representatives passed a precursor to CISA—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)—in 2013, but the bill’s progress stopped when Pres. Barack Obama threatened a veto due to a lack of privacy protections. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced the first version of CISA in July 2014, but the bill didn’t gain traction until she and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) reintroduced the legislation this past March. High-profile cybersecurity breaches at Sony Pictures, Home Depot, the Office of Personnel Management and dozens of other organizations within the past year alone helped CISA make its way to the Senate floor.
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