June 10, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 96 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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DHS CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAMS ACT OF 2019; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 96
(House of Representatives - June 10, 2019)
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[Pages H4367-H4369] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] DHS CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAMS ACT OF 2019 Miss RICE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1158) to authorize cyber incident response teams at the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1158 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019''. SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAMS. (a) In General.--Section 2209 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 148) is amended-- (1) in subsection (d)(1)(B)(iv), by inserting ``, including cybersecurity specialists'' after ``entities''; (2) by redesignating subsections (f) through (m) as subsections (g) through (n), respectively; (3) by inserting after subsection (e) the following new subsection (f): ``(f) Cyber Incident Response Teams.-- ``(1) In general.--The Center shall maintain cyber hunt and incident response teams for the purpose of providing, as appropriate and upon request, assistance, including the following: ``(A) Assistance to asset owners and operators in restoring services following a cyber incident. ``(B) The identification of cybersecurity risk and unauthorized cyber activity. ``(C) Mitigation strategies to prevent, deter, and protect against cybersecurity risks. ``(D) Recommendations to asset owners and operators for improving overall network and control systems security to lower cybersecurity risks, and other recommendations, as appropriate. ``(E) Such other capabilities as the Under Secretary appointed under section 103(a)(1)(H) determines appropriate. ``(2) Cybersecurity specialists.--The Secretary may include cybersecurity specialists from the private sector on cyber hunt and incident response teams. ``(3) Associated metrics.--The Center shall continually assess and evaluate the cyber incident response teams and their operations using robust metrics. ``(4) Submittal of information to congress.--Upon the conclusion of each of the first four fiscal years ending after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the Center shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee of the Senate, information on the metrics used for evaluation and assessment of the cyber incident response teams and operations pursuant to paragraph (3), including the resources and staffing of such cyber incident response teams. Such information shall include each of the following for the period covered by the report: ``(A) The total number of incident response requests received. ``(B) The number of incident response tickets opened. ``(C) All interagency staffing of incident response teams. ``(D) The interagency collaborations established to support incident response teams.''; and (4) in subsection (g), as redesignated by paragraph (2)-- (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``, or any team or activity of the Center,'' after ``Center''; and (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``, or any team or activity of the Center,'' after ``Center''. (b) No Additional Funds Authorized.--No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the requirements of this Act and the amendments made by this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from New York (Miss Rice) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Crenshaw) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York. [[Page H4368]] {time} 1530 General Leave Miss RICE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from New York? There was no objection. Miss RICE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, every day, hackers grow bolder, more sophisticated, and more ambitious. In 2016, the Russian Government carried out an unprecedented attack on our election infrastructure; and last year, the Department of Homeland Security and FBI revealed that the Russians were exploiting cyber tools to target critical infrastructure in our energy, water, aviation, and commercial sectors. Other foreign adversaries have taken note of Russia's activity and are similarly leveraging their cyber capabilities to advance their interests and undermine our own. We already know that Chinese actors have been targeting American companies and even our transportation systems with cutting-edge cyberattacks. In recent years, we have also seen an increase in Iranian cyberattacks on banks, businesses, and government agencies. Meanwhile, local governments across the country, from Atlanta to Baltimore to Albany, have been devastated by costly and disruptive ransomware attacks. The only way for us to effectively mitigate and respond to these attacks is by leveraging the full power and capabilities of the Federal Government. H.R. 1158, the DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019, would do just that by authorizing hunt and incident response teams. Housed within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, these teams deploy to owners and operators of critical infrastructure after a cybersecurity incident. They provide intrusion analysis, identify malicious actors, analyze malicious tools, and provide mitigation assistance strategies. They are our boots on the ground in the event of a cybersecurity incident and are critical to improving the cybersecurity capabilities of critical infrastructure operators. Additionally, H.R. 1158 authorizes DHS to leverage private-sector capabilities to address these growing and evolving threats. It is important that DHS use every measure available to confront the changing landscape of cyber threats. Passing this bill, authored by our former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Mike McCaul, will help us accomplish that mission. Mr. Speaker, I urge my House colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 1158, the DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019. H.R. 1158 authorizes cyber hunt and incident response teams to assist operators, free of cost, to identify unauthorized cyber activity while promoting the proper strategies to deter future threats. This legislation helps us stay vigilant in our efforts to respond to cyber incidents in both the public and private sectors as threats to our digital networks continue to evolve. I support this important bill, introduced by my colleague, Ranking Member McCaul, and I commend him for his leadership on this issue. I urge all Members to support this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Miss RICE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I am prepared to close after the gentleman from Texas closes. I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul). Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 1158, the DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for managing this on the floor. I want to thank the gentlewoman from New York for her comments. Every day, we are facing threats from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and other malicious actors trying to hit not only our Federal Government networks, but our private sector. During my time as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, I prioritized ensuring that our Nation had the capacity to respond to cyber threats and protect our critical infrastructure. I am proud to say that we have made important strides in recent years, including standing up the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within DHS. However, we must press forward with innovative solutions to respond to a constantly changing threat landscape. To that end, my bill authorizes CISA's ability to maintain cyber incident response teams to assist against cyberattacks on the government and private sector. These teams not only help respond to cyberattacks, but also help mitigate the potential destruction they cause and restore damaged networks after. Additionally, my bill allows for leading industry specialists to serve on these teams with the government and DHS to provide outside expertise. It really provides a force multiplier, and I think it is a very important step forward in the right direction. It ensures that we have the best and brightest from both the public and private sector working in unison to secure our critical infrastructure and vital national networks. These response teams are a force multiplier, enhancing our cybersecurity workforce and helping protect our interconnected world. This bill is critical to keeping our digital networks and communications systems resilient and protected. I would like to also thank Congressmen Langevin, Ratcliffe, Ruppersberger, and Katko for joining me in introducing this bill. This bill actually passed the House last Congress, and I sure hope we can get it passed by the Senate and signed into law, because it is urgently needed by the Department to protect the United States from these critical cyberattacks. Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this legislation. Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time. Miss RICE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is hard to predict the future, but there is one thing I know: Our adversaries will continue to hone their hacking capabilities to advance their interests and undermine ours. Critical infrastructure owners and operators must have access to the incident response capabilities necessary to protect their networks. H.R. 1158, which was approved unanimously in committee, will help ensure that DHS can continue to partner effectively with the private sector to protect critical infrastructure. Before I close, I would like to note that a version of this bill passed the House by a voice vote in the 115th Congress. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1158. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1158, ``DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019.'' H.R. 1158 codifies DHS' National Cybersecurity and Communications Coordination Center (NCCIC) Hunt and Incident Response Teams which the Department currently deploys to provide intrusion analysis, identify malicious actors, analyze malicious tools, and provide mitigation assistance to entities requesting assistance after a cybersecurity incident. H.R. 1158 also requires the NCCIC to submit information to Congress regarding metrics for the teams, at the end of the first four years after enactment. In 2017, a malware named NotPetya was released from the hacked servers of a Ukrainian software firm servicing a management program used by some of world's largest corporations, causing an estimated $10 billion in damage. When this bill passes, it will assess and mitigate situations of cyberterrorism that undermine our nation's security and civil liberties such as our national elections. Cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated every day. [[Page H4369]] Due to the vulnerability of corporations' operations, we need extensive measures to identify, analyze, and alleviate threats of cyberattacks. Affected asset owners and operators will receive critical information to improve their overall network and control systems security to lower cybersecurity risks, and other recommendations. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1158 to protect our nation from malicious attempts of cyberterrorism that strategically weaken our democracy. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from New York (Miss Rice) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1158, as amended. The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. ____________________
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