U.S. Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) sponsored or cosponsored several cybersecurity bills that were passed recently by the U.S. House of Representatives in various funding bills.
Graves worked to include a dozen cybersecurity related priorities in more than half of the 12 funding bills, which now move on to the Senate for approval.
“Especially as so much of our day-to-day lives have moved online in the last few months, the need for robust cybersecurity has never been more important. Just recently, we learned of yet another attack by Chinese hackers, who have been actively working to steal COVID-19 research and American data. America needs to lead the way when it comes to improving the way the world responds to cyberattacks,” Graves said.
Among the measures, Graves worked to pass was a bill that requires the Secretary of Defense to the Committee on Appropriations on common NATO standards and protocols for countering cybersecurity incidents. Another bill directs the Department of Justice to enforce applicable laws and prevent the operation of known foreign entities who participate in the theft of American intellectual property, the harvesting of personally identifiable information on behalf of a foreign government, and the unlawful surveillance of American citizens by adversarial state-owned enterprises. In addition, Graves worked to pass a bill that directs the Department of State to maintain an accurate list of Information Technology (IT) assets. Further, he worked on a bill to modernize and secure systems at the Department of Housing and Development