US Senators Marsha Blackburn and Cynthia Lummis have proposed amendments to a 2015 bill, including renaming it the Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act.
The proposed amendment, according to the lawmakers, would allow “voluntary information sharing of cyber threat indicators among cryptocurrency companies.”
US lawmakers pass Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act to protect crypto firms
Blackburn and Lummis suggested US lawmakers allow businesses using distributed ledger technology or digital assets to report data breaches, network damage, ransomware attacks, and related cybersecurity threats to government officials for possible assistance, according to a draft bill on amending the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, among other organizations, would develop standards and procedures for cryptocurrency enterprises facing possible cybersecurity threats if the bill were to become law.
Setting up the framework
According to Blackburn, the cybersecurity bill amendments would create a way for crypto businesses to alert problematic actors and shield cryptocurrency from potentially criminal purposes.
The original bill, which was approved by the Senate in October 2015, effectively established a structure for the US government to coordinate cybersecurity reports from “private entities, nonfederal government agencies, state, tribal, and local governments, the public, and entities under threat.” It also aimed to identify potential techniques for preventing and mitigating attacks.
Additionally, Lummis has partnered on legislation in the Senate that clarifies the legal framework for the industry by defining the relative responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission with regard to digital assets.
The original cybersecurity bill stipulated that it would go into effect 10 years after it was enacted. The House of Representatives’ desk was where the bill was said to be as of October 2015, according to Congress.