Senate bill would bolster DHS anti-hacking shield

Two senators want to move quickly on a new bill that aims to keep the government’s main system used to thwart hackers up to date.

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), the top two lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, will soon introduce and mark up the Einstein Act, according to Carper’s office.

{mosads}The bill is named after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program designed to detect and repel known digital threats.

The Einstein software has come under heavy scrutiny in the wake of the damaging hacks at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which exposed more than 22 million people’s sensitive data, including detailed security-clearance-related information.

Many have criticized Einstein as an outdated program that is ineffective against skilled digital intruders since it can only catch previously identified threats. Einstein has also been knocked for its repeated delays and bloated budget.

The Johnson-Carper offering would boost Einstein oversight in an attempt to keep it on schedule and under budget, said a Carper aide. The bill would also require Einstein to cover the entire government and incorporate leading private sector security technology. Einstein has never had a specific congressional mandate in its 10-plus years of existence.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has already vowed to speed up the rollout of the final phase of Einstein. He told lawmakers in a recent hearing that the full program would shield the entire government by the end of 2015, months ahead of schedule.

The OPM hacks have spurred lawmakers to try and codify the DHS cybersecurity role.

For years, DHS and its various cyber defense programs, like Einstein, have taken on the de facto role of government network defender, but Congress has never specifically delineated its cyber responsibilities.

Johnson, Carper and their colleagues are trying to change that.

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of six senators introduced the FISMA Reform Act in an effort to formalize the DHS role in protecting government networks and websites.

The bill would update the 13-year-old Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), which is seen as too static to address modern cyber threats. Under the revision, DHS would be given the legal authority to search for intrusions at any agency without a formal request.

Carper’s office said the Einstein Act is another component of the FISMA Reform.

Lawmakers are angling to possibly add their DHS-focused bills as amendments to a cybersecurity bill that could hit the floor sometime in the next few weeks.

That bill, known as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), is intended to boost the public-private exchange of data on hackers.

The Einstein Act is slated for a mark-up at next Wednesday’s Homeland Security Committee meeting.