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The Independent Community Bankers of America Issues Letter to Regulators Regarding Support for the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WASHINGTON, July 31 -- The Independent Community Bankers of America issued the following letter to Congress: The Honorable Harry Reid U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Mitch McConnell U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 Re: Support for the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 Dear Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell: The undersigned financial services organizations are writing in strong support of S. 2588, the "Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014," or CISA, favorably reported out of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on July 10th by a bipartisan 12-3 vote. CISA will strengthen the nation's ability to defend against cyber-attacks and better protect all Americans by encouraging the business community and the government to more quickly and effectively share critical information about these threats while ensuring privacy. We urge you to bring this critically important legislation to the Senate Floor as soon as possible. The threat of cyber-attacks is a real and constant danger to our industry and to other critical infrastructure providers that we, and the nation as a whole, rely upon and the financial services industry is dedicated to improving our capacity to protect customers and their sensitive information. The mitigation of cyber risks to our customers, clients, partners and networks from malicious cyber activity is a critical step toward this important goal. Cyber threats are more sophisticated and dangerous than ever and require a concerted public/private partnership to identify, mitigate, and resolve, if possible. As it stands today, our laws do not do enough to foster information sharing and establish clear lines of communication with the various government agencies responsible for Cybersecurity. Simply put, there is a limit to our ability to protect our customers and there is a clear need for Congress to act. CISA strengthens the ability of the private sector and the federal government to work together to develop a more effective information sharing framework to respond to cyber threats. It provides narrow liability protections while strengthening, and making explicit, privacy protections. For the undersigned financial services trade associations, more effective information sharing provides some of the strongest protections of privacy, as it is information about our members' customers that we are seeking to protect from those who would seek to steal or destroy that information. On behalf of our hundreds of millions of customers and clients, each of our organizations and our respective member firms has made Cybersecurity a top priority and we are committed to continuing to work with you and your colleagues in the Senate so that effective cyber threat information sharing legislation can be enacted into law. Cyber threats pose a real and growing threat to America's economy and consumers. Action by Congress is urgently needed. Sincerely, American Bankers Association American Insurance Association Credit Union National Association Electronic Transactions Association Financial Services Roundtable Independent Community Bankers of America Investment Company Institute NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association National Association of Federal Credit Unions National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies Property Casualty Insurers Association of America Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Cc: Members of the U.S. Senate TNS 24HariCha-140801-30FurigayJane-4817049 30FurigayJane (c) 2014 Targeted News Service |