The U.S. Senate passed the 'DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act' (S.315) to authorize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to maintain cyber hunt and incident response teams to help private and public entities defend against cyber-attacks.

"The Senate passing the DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act is an important step in protecting Upstate New York school districts from the swaths of ransomware attacks that take hostage the personal information and vital data of our students, school employees and local governments," stated Senator Schumer in a press release published today.

"It’s critical that we use all available resources to protect New York students from cyber crooks, and enhance and increase our resiliency to these attacks," Schumer added.

Similar legislation (H.R.1158) has already passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 24, with the two bill laws to now go through the reconciliation process and be sent to the President to be signed and become law.

DHS cyber teams to help prevent, mitigate cyber-attacks

The cyber hunt and incident response teams, as the US Senator explained, will provide advice and technical support on how to properly reinforce their IT systems so that ransomware and various other types of cyber-attacks to any entity that requests their assistance according to the passed legislation.

The federally-resourced cyber response teams will also continue to be available to assist with incident response. Should an organization fall victim to ransomware or another type of cyber-attack

The DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act says that the DHS would have to make these teams responsible for:

• assistance to asset owners and operators in restoring services following a cyber incident;

• identification of cybersecurity risk and unauthorized cyber activity;

• mitigation strategies to prevent, deter, and protect against cybersecurity risks;

• recommendations to asset owners and operators for improving overall network and control systems security to lower cybersecurity risks, and other recommendations, as appropriate;

The press release also says that "ransomware has two major, devastating consequences. First, victims cannot use the computer systems on which they depend until files are unlocked, rendering them virtually paralyzed in today’s digital age."

"But more importantly, victims’, including children’s, personal information is often compromised when hackers gain access to a computer housing confidential information including financial records, medical reports, social security numbers and more."

Reintroduced after dying in the 115th Congress

The bill, which was introduced by Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and had Gary Peters [D-MI], Robert Portman [R-OH], and Schumer as co-sponsors, will also allow the DHS to strengthen the incident response teams.

The legislation was reintroduced on January 31 after the previously introduced S. 3309 bill, also tagged as the DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act, died in the 115th Congress.

“By encouraging the private sector and the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber response teams to work together, this legislation will foster collaboration between the best minds in the field of cybersecurity to help fend off cyber-attacks and protect vital infrastructure,” Hassan said.

Senator Hassan previously worked on other bipartisan bills, namely the Public-Private Cybersecurity Cooperation Act and the Hack Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Act as part of a package of bills that were signed into law on December 21, 2018.

“This bipartisan legislation will allow the best minds in cybersecurity to work together to better protect our digital infrastructure and to respond to attacks," Hassan added.