U.S. Lawmakers Move To Protect ‘Dot-Gov’ Domains Following Massive Hacks

WASHINGTON, July 22 Republican and Democratic U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday to give the Department of Homeland Security more authority to protect government Internet addresses, hoping to prevent more cyber attacks like recent massive breaches at the government’s hiring office.

The Federal Information Security Management Reform Act of 2015 would expand the power of the DHS over “dot-gov” websites, according to a statement.

The federal Office of Personnel Management confirmed earlier this month that 21.5 million records of current and past federal employees, contractors and other Americans were compromised by hackers.

Along with Warner and Collins, the bill is co-sponsored by Sens.

Last year, Congress gave DHS authority to issue binding operational directives to federal agencies, especially to respond to substantial cyber security threats in emergency circumstances, and the bill would also bolster that, the release states. Susan Collins (R-Me.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.). Currently, each agency monitors its own networks and then requests help from the DHS if it feels it needs it. “Every agency has got the reason why they in particular can’t comply”. Collins said. “This attack was a stark reminder that our adversaries are increasingly turning to the cyber realm…”

“The recent cyberattack at OPM affected a staggering number of Americans and exposed a tremendous vulnerability with the status quo in the defense of federal civilian networks”.

The bill’s six sponsors say that, while DHS has the mandate to protect the.gov domain, it doesn’t have the authority to monitor the networks of a government agency unless it has permission from the agency. These attacks demanded Congress for drastic and huge betterment of monitoring and protection of government systems.