House Bill to Boost FEMA’s Defenses Against Private Sector Cyber Risks

A House lawmaker has introduced a bill seeking to improve the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s digital defenses amid increasing cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure networks.

Under the FEMA Cybersecurity Improvement Act, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 would be amended to harmonize the roles of FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. 

FEMA will partner with CISA to develop best practices that would help private entities mitigate cybersecurity risks their products and services pose to agency operations, Nextgov/FCW reported.

The bill was introduced after a hacking group linked to China exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Online to access government email accounts.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that its Cyber Safety Review Board will assess the incident to identify the techniques malicious actors used, help strengthen the security of cloud computing environments and provide software providers and cloud users with best practices to avoid similar events in the future.