U.S. Sens. Peters, Braun seek improvements to federal cybersecurity competition

With the recent introduction of the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Competition Act, United States Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Mike Braun (R-IN) sought to get ahead of cybersecurity threats with improvements to the national President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition.

“As foreign adversaries continue to test our cybersecurity defenses, it is more important than ever to have a well-equipped workforce that is prepared to repel all cybersecurity threats,” Peters, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said. “My bipartisan bill will keep the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition on the cutting edge as they seek to train our cybersecurity workforce.”

President’s Cup is a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency-led (CISA) cyber competition established in 2019 and built to identify and train cybersecurity talent for the federal workforce. This bill would expand the competition to include operational technology and industrial control systems, covering technologies that manage, monitor and control industrial operations throughout major industries, utilities and critical infrastructure networks.

“The United States prides itself in being a champion in cyber security innovation, with many technical advancements coming out of Indiana,” Braun said. “I’m proudly cosponsoring this bill that will enhance our national cybersecurity training competition and ultimately protect American technology from cyber-attacks from around the world.”

In November 2023 alone, at least 10 U.S. water utilities were hacked by an Iran-backed group, allowing them to remotely control the monitoring and regulation of station water pressure. This was but a most recent case, though – cyberattacks have been consistently on the rise for years.