Bill Improving Cybercrime Data Management Signed Into Law

President Joe Biden has signed into law a piece of legislation that is designed to improve the collection of data related to cybercrime.

The new law, titled “Better Cybercrimes Metrics Act,” requires the Department of Justice to lay down actions to allow law enforcement agencies to improve their data collection capabilities. One of the measures to be taken is the creation of a new category in the National Incident-Based Reporting System for federal, state and local cybercrime reports.

The new law passed Senate unanimously in 2021 and passed the House at the end of March through a 377-to-84 vote, The Hill reported.

The bill also asks the Government Accountability Office to study the effectiveness of ways in which cybercrime data is reported. GAO is also urged to check disparities in reporting cybercrime data.

The new law was introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz. It follows Congress’ findings that stated that the U.S. lacks comprehensive cybercrime data and reporting.

The Uniform Federal Crime Reporting Act of 1988 also requires the attorney general to collect and manage national data on federal criminal offenses as part of the Uniform Crime Reports. It also requires all federal departments and agencies that investigate crimes to report information about illicit activities to the attorney general in a uniform manner.

Schatz said being able to effectively collect relevant cybercrime-related data will be able to protect individuals from online crimes and go after cybercriminals.