WASHINGTON – Today the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the global voice for the technology sector's leading companies, announced it will key vote final passage of two cybersecurity threat information sharing bills being considered this week by the House of Representatives. Citing the importance of threat information sharing to the high-tech industry, ITI signaled its support for H.R. 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act; and H.R. 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act, in a letter addressed to congressional leaders. 

In an accompanying blog published today, ITI said it welcomes bipartisan efforts to enact policies that further enable all stakeholders, private sector and government, to share this highly technical information in order to more effectively protect and defend their networks. The following is text of the letter announcing the tech organization’s intention to key vote the legislation:

April 21, 2015 

The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi,

On behalf of the members of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), I write to express our support for H.R. 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act, and H.R. 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015.  Thank you for prioritizing these bills for House floor consideration during this busy congressional session.  Given the importance of cybersecurity threat information sharing to the high-tech industry, we will consider scoring votes in support of final passage of H.R. 1560 and H.R. 1731 in our 114th Congressional Voting Guide.

ITI is the premier advocacy and policy organization for the world’s leading information and communications technology (ICT) companies, including hardware and software, internet services, and wireless networking companies.  Our members contribute to making the U.S. ICT industry the strongest in the world, leading the country and the world in innovative cybersecurity practices and solutions.

Our members recognize we must protect and defend networks to enhance cybersecurity.  ITI firmly believes that passing legislation to help to increase voluntary cybersecurity threat information sharing between the private sector and the federal government, and within the private sector, is an important step Congress can take to enable all stakeholders to address threats, stem losses, and shield their systems, partners and customers.  ITI believes legislation that can best promote greater cybersecurity threat information sharing should:

  • Affirm that cybersecurity threat information sharing be voluntary;
  • Promote multidirectional sharing, allowing private-to-private, private-to-government and government-to-private sharing relationships;
  • Include targeted liability protections for information shared with civilian agencies;
  • Require all entities to take reasonable steps to remove personally identifiable information from information shared through data minimization; and
  • Ensure information shared is used only for cybersecurity purposes.

We appreciate the outreach to our sector from the committees of jurisdiction and the opportunity to provide our feedback on these issues and others as the legislation has evolved.  We also appreciate the progress made by both bills’ sponsors to include provisions that would protect personally identifiable information while also allowing for a cybersecurity threat information sharing framework that will enhance our ability to protect and defend our networks.  We look forward to continuing to work with you and your committee leadership, as well as the Senate, to further refine both bills and pass final legislation that can best achieve our goal of promoting greater cybersecurity.

On behalf of ITI’s member companies, I thank you for your tremendous leadership in addressing the important and complex issue of cybersecurity and urge you and your colleagues to support both H.R. 1560 and H.R. 1731. 

Sincerely,
Dean C. Garfield
President & CEO

cc:  Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

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