ransomware
Bulletins

Proposed bill would mandate cyberattack reports within 24 hours

The legislation would be a first to require public and private companies to report ransomware attacks.

The Colonial Pipeline is still offline days after a ransomware attack.​

A proposed bill on ransomware attacks follows a major hack on Colonial Pipeline.

Photo: Leonhard Lenz via Wikimedia Commons

Public and private companies would be required to report ransomware attacks within a day in a bill introduced Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner of Virginia, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine proposed the legislation.

The bill would be a first to require both public and private companies to report cybersecurity breaches. If companies report a breach, they'd be given some liability coverage and data protections. If companies don't report within 24 hours, lawmakers would be able to determine a civil penalty of up to 0.5% of the company's gross revenue from the previous year.

The legislation follows major ransomware attacks in recent months, including a Colonial Pipeline hack in May and a breach on Kaseya software earlier this month.

Sarah Roach

Sarah (Sarahroach_) writes for Source Code at Protocol. She's based in Boston and can be reached at sroach@protocol.com

colonial pipelinekaseyacybersecurityransomware
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