CyberSecurity???

Funny, I don't feel any safer after reading this information. Two bills, both introduced by Senator Jay Rockefeller, are being started in the Senate as part of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009: S. 773 and S. 778. The text of these bills is not available yet on GovTrack, but I'll keep looking for it so I can read the text in its entirety. But here's the premise:

S. 773: A bill to ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption, and for other purposes.

S. 778: Bill to establish an Office of National Cybersecurity Advisor

A summary can be found here: Cyberbill Summary

According to a news article by WorldNetDaily, after viewing a working copy of the bills, they can:

"First, the White House, through the national cybersecurity advisor, shall have the authority to disconnect "critical infrastructure" networks from the Internet – including private citizens' banks and health records, if Rockefeller's examples are accurate – if they are found to be at risk of cyber attack. The working copy of the bill, however, does not define what constitutes a cybersecurity emergency, and apparently leaves the question to the discretion of the president.

Second, the bill establishes the Department of Commerce as "the clearinghouse of cybersecurity threat and vulnerability information," including the monitoring of private information networks deemed a part of the "critical infrastructure."

Third, the legislation proposes implementation of a professional licensing program for certifying who can serve as a cybersecurity professional."

This is definitely something for us to keep track of. For those how-to articles and bookmarked sites that you love - you might want to consider having a copy on your hard drive!