ClearSky Cyberdefense Forum

http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CYBER%20The%20Cybersecurity%20Act%20of%202012%20final.pdf

Sweeping Senate legislation seeks to protect the computer systems that run the nation’s most critical infrastructure, including electric utilities, from cyber attack.

The 200-plus page contains no provisions specifically directed at electric cooperatives. However, NRECA noted, it could affect co-ops “because it would bring federal regulation of cyber and physical security to the distribution level.”

The bipartisan legislation requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with others, to assess which sectors are subject to the greatest and most immediate cyber risks.

It authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, with input from the private sector, to determine cyber performance requirements based upon those risk assessments, covering only “the most critical systems and assets in a given sector.”

The bill, introduced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., includes numerous other provisions.

http://www.ect.coop/public-policy-watch/legislation/capitol-hill-unveils-cyber-defense-bill/40122

A former McAfee researcher has used a previously unknown hole in smartphone browsers to plant China-based malware that can record calls, pinpoint locations and access user texts and emails.

 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smartphone-hacking-20120224,0,2497368.story