Cybersecurity Bill to Enhance CDM Gets Nod of Approval from the House Committee

• The House Homeland Security Committee has approved the legislation that gives state and local governments free access to tools under the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program.
• The legislation follows a number of cyberattacks that recently hit several agencies in the United States.

What is the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program?

The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is an initiative by the Homeland Security Department that provides government agencies with resources to improve their cybersecurity posture. The program focuses on data protection, network security, identity and access management, asset management, and a dashboard that displays information from different CDM tools.

The backdrop

Last month, Reps. John Ratcliffe and Ro Khanna introduced a bill that upgrades the arsenal of cyber tools available in the CDM.

• This bill, known as the Advancing Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Act would also provide civilian agencies and governments free access to the tools.
• It was introduced following a number of targeted ransomware attacks that hit several agencies across the United States.
• The bill also looks at improving the ease of access for the information gathered under the CDM program.
• The Homeland Security officials would have to create policies for reporting cyber risks and incidents, and aid agencies with prioritizing their efforts in cybersecurity, according to this legislation. The tools and security threats must also be updated regularly.

What’s happening now?

The House Homeland Security Committee has approved this legislation. This means that the bill will advance to the House floor for a vote.

“CDM has proven to be an indispensable tool for [the Homeland Security Department] to leverage in identifying, responding to and preventing cyber-attacks against our federal networks. I’m grateful my bipartisan legislation to make CDM permanent and expand its capabilities to additional agencies at the federal, state and local level was approved,” said Reps. John Ratcliffe in a statement.