Bill to end shutdown includes temporary cyber info-sharing law extension

"The proposed Senate bill that would end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history contains a measure to reauthorize, at least in the near term, a bedrock cybersecurity data-sharing law. The 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act lapsed when the government shut down at the end of the fiscal year. The law gave companies various forms of legal cover when they transmitted cyber threat data to the government."

"Legal exemptions were made a core feature of the 2015 regulation because cyber threat information often contains sensitive data about victims and companies. To help agencies like the FBI track nation-state cyber threats and criminal hackers, those datasets often need to be shared with government analysts. The 2015 law's expiration opened the door wider for cyber adversaries, as it disincentivizes the exchange of information that can help stop hacking threats."

The Senate bill ending the government shutdown includes a measure to reauthorize the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act in the near term. The law lapsed when the government shut down at the fiscal year end and had given companies legal cover to transmit cyber threat data to government analysts. The Senate measure passed would extend the law through Jan. 30, 2026, but creates only a temporary reprieve. Legal exemptions were central because cyber threat information often contains sensitive victim and company data that agencies use to track nation-state and criminal hackers. The lapse disincentivizes sharing, widening opportunities for adversaries and prompting entities to rework legal approaches.

Read at Nextgov.com