The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has approved the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, a move that could draw closer to reforms in the 12-year-old Federal Information Security Management Act, GovInfoSecurity reported Thursday.Jeffrey Roman writes the modernization bill could reach the President despite facing a long process, from the probable Senate vote and reconciliation with the House version to challenges such as the upcoming midterm elections.
According to the report, the FISMA reform act has support from both parties and is expected to qualify recent government initiatives to address the concerns regarding cyberthreats.
“Cybersecurity is one of our nation’s biggest challenges. That’s why it’s imperative that we face this 21st century threat with a 21st century response,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the committee.
Other cybersecurity legislation that received committee approval are the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center Act to authorize NCCIC as a federal civilian information-sharing cybersecurity interface, and the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act to provide visibility into IT investments, Roman reports.
