WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, today welcomed the unveiling of a cybersecurity legislation package by President Obama intended to protect American companies against cyber-attacks.

“From CENTCOM to Sony, it couldn’t be more clear that a new sphere of warfare in the 21^st century is going to be conducted by the click of a mouse and through lines of code. The price of American inaction against these threats is incalculable.

“That’s why Congress must approve legislation that incentivizes improved information sharing between the public and private sectors so that we can more rapidly identify and respond to cyber-threats. Every day that passes without action puts more American companies and more of our vital infrastructure at risk. 

“I welcome the President’s renewed efforts and I believe there should be a robust debate in Congress to consider this and other ideas so that we find the right balance between privacy and security. This is a team sport – it isn’t a fight the government or the private sector can take on alone. It’s time for Congress to get off the sidelines and enact commonsense cybersecurity legislation to more rapidly identify and respond to threats.”

As a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, Senator King has repeatedly voiced his concern about the danger of a cyber-attack or other destructive computer network exploitation activities that could cause damage to our national and economic security, including threats to the U.S. energy grid, financial services, or health sectors.

He has also been a vocal proponent of passing cybersecurity legislation. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he supported the passage of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) by a vote of 12-3 last July.

The bipartisan bill removes legal barriers for companies to share, receive, and use cyber-threat information and defensive measures on a purely voluntary basis.  It also provides liability protection for the sharing of cyber information for cyber security purposes and seeks to ensure that the sharing of cyber information does not allow for privacy intrusions by requiring companies to remove personally identifiable information from cyber threat information before sharing it with the government.

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