Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: New CRS Report

The Congressional Research Service has released a new report, Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Overview and Discussion of Proposed Revisions.

The report (62 pages) reviews relevant provisions and possible updates for 31 statutes, including The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HSA) and The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). Table 2 (p. 52) identifies more than 40 laws enacted between 1878 and 2009 that have relevant cybersecurity provisions.


From the Introduction:

For more than a decade, various experts have expressed concerns about information-system security—often referred to as cybersecurity—in the United States and abroad. The frequency, impact, and sophistication of attacks on those systems have added urgency to the concerns. Consensus has also been growing that the current legislative framework for cybersecurity might need to be revised to address needs for improved cybersecurity, especially given the continuing evolution of the technology and threat environments. This report, with contributions from several CRS staff (see Acknowledgments), discusses that framework and proposals to amend more than 30 acts of Congress that are part of or relevant to it.