Cyber info sharing act reauthorization prospects dim

Odds that the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act will be renewed by Congress before its expiration at the end of the month have become low despite an intense push by industry groups and the Trump administration, according to CyberScoop.

While the House approved funding legislation that included a two-month reprieve for CISA 2015, the Senate opposed the continuing resolution. After the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's sudden cancellation of markup for legislation by Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would implement a significantly modified CISA law, Paul thumbed down a clean decade-long extension pushed by the panel's top Democrat, Gary Peters of Michigan.

Paul's version of the law, which would have implemented a two-year extension, has been criticized by industry groups and Democrats over the removal of provisions offering cyber threat data sharing protections, as well as the inclusion of new rules on defensive measure utilization, which were regarded by Senate aides to be damaging to small- and medium-sized businesses.