Senator Tom Carpenter of Delaware has proposed legislation in reaction to the numerous denial of service attacks that have been targeting websites in the wake of the WikiLeaks disclosures.

Coauthors of the bill, The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, include Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman's site was the subject of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack after sympathizers asserted it was the Senator's political pressure that spurred Amazon to decline to continue hosting the WikiLeaks websites.

The bill will seek to centralize command and control operations within the White House, and further public and private cooperation to mitigate cyber threats.

PRESS RELEASE: WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) released the following statement in response to the retaliatory cyber attacks on the websites of select companies and organizations recently involved with Wikileaks, including MasterCard and Visa: “Today’s events, once again, underscore the necessity for more robust cybersecurity efforts in the United States. Time and time again, hackers have demonstrated their ruthless yet effective techniques to attack critical cyber networks, and today they used those sophisticated techniques to bring down two financial giants in MasterCard and Visa. Whether it’s cyber crime or cyber terrorism, clearly the United States needs effective leadership from the federal government to successfully combat these kinds of attacks and mitigate the damage. Legislation I’ve authored along with Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, does just that. This bipartisan bill is a vital tool that America needs to better protect cyber space. It encourages the government and the private sector to work together to address this growing threat and provides the tools and resources for America to be successful in this critical effort.” The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 would create an Office of Cyber Policy in the White House with a director accountable to the public who would lead all federal cyberspace efforts and devise national cyberspace strategy. A National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications within the Department of Homeland Security, also led by a director accountable to the public, would enforce cybersecurity policies throughout the government and the private sector. The bill would also establish a public/private partnership to set national cyber security priorities and improve national cyber security defenses.

Source: http://www.wgmd.com/?p=13953

