Rep. Mike Rogers: "Stay Tuned" For Cybercrime Legislation

Watch for cybercrime legislation with punitive measures for IP theft, says Rep Mike Rogers, above, chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "We are in a cyberwar, and we're losing." There's speculation the measures could be related to restrictions on visas or joint ventures, though caution is required to not negatively affect foreign relations. Rep. Rogers spoke at a cybercrime briefing with former Homeland SecretaryMichael Chertoff at Covington yesterday. Another issue is a growing group of cyber trade secretbounty hunters.(Our issue is how do they not have reality show yet?) Rogers introduced CISPA last year to facilitate info sharing between and among the gov't and private sector, but it didn't pass in the Senate (after a White House veto threat); he reintroduced it last month and says they had a breakthrough with the White House on some of the issues this week.

Information sharing is important because when adversaries can keep using the same tools with different targets, they get more bang for their buck, saysCovington's Michael Chertoff. Every day there are new cyber attacks, and they're increasing in intensity and seriousness.Implementing concepts like info sharing or punitive measures, he says, will however require or be enabled by congressional action.

The Chertoff Group managing director Pres Winter with panel moderator Covington's David Fagan. David says companies that share information with one part of the government (say the FBI) have to evaluate whether that'll lead to info spreading to the SEC or FTC, which may make them reluctant to share.With info sharing, private sector companies also need liability protection. Over the next year, Pres says he hopes to see more attention to basic network hygiene issues (eg, your passwords should not be your name), after which the "equation will start to change" as cyber crime becomes more costly and difficult.