The United States is “actively under attack” by enemies in the cyber world, a senator said on Tuesday.
“We are actively under attack. Everyone knows that,” said Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., in remarks delivered at the Chamber of Commerce. “Americans see it every day.”
Daines referenced the Office of Personnel Management breach that took place earlier this year, and argued that the government can’t keep pace with cyber threats without assistance from the private sector.
“As somebody who in 28 years never had my data hacked as a private sector employee until I became a federal employee … I was one of the … federal workers who received a letter from OPM saying that my data had been hacked,” Daines said. The OPM breach, traced to hackers in China, resulted in the theft of more than 22 million personnel files on those who have applied for security clearances from the U.S. government.
Before serving in the Senate, Daines worked for Procter & Gamble for six years in China, and helped to build a technology start-up in Montana. Currently, he sits on the Senate subcommittee on cybersecurity.
“It is important, I believe, that if you look at what the role of government and regulations should be, that we be very thoughtful, very cautious, because how in the world can the government expect to regulate something that it can never run as fast as?” he asked.
“The government has not established its ability sometimes to protect its own data … Some of its own legacy systems are ten or twenty years old,” he added.
Daines said he was inclined to support the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, and expects the Senate to take the bill up again “in the next month or two.” The legislation, which would release companies from liability for sharing customer data with the government, has stagnated for over a year due to opposition from privacy advocates.
