SIFMA, Joint Trades Oppose Paul Amendment to CISA

Release Date: October 22, 2015
Contact: Liz Pierce, 212-313-1173, [email protected]

SIFMA, Joint Trades Oppose Paul Amendment to CISA

Washington, DC, October 22, 2015 – SIFMA and a coalition of associations today submitted a letter to the Senate expressing opposition to the Paul Amendment #2564, which if added to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) would undermine the bill’s goal of facilitating cyber threat information sharing that is needed to protect sensitive data. The full letter is below:

October 22, 2015

The Honorable Mitch McConnellThe Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader, U.S. SenateMinority Leader, U.S. Senate
U.S. CapitolU.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Richard BurrThe Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Member of the U.S. SenateMember of the U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senators:

The undersigned associations, which strongly support the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA),write to urge you to oppose the Paul Amendment # 2564. Protecting consumers’ sensitive data and ensuring their privacy is of paramount importance to our member firms, and is also an underlying goal of CISA. To achieve that goal, and to help defend against those that seek to harm Americans and commit cyber attacks against our critical infrastructure, the legislation provides legal liability protections for companies of all sizes and across all sectors that voluntarily engage in the cyber threat sharing process.

However, this amendment would undermine these goals by jeopardizing a firm’s liability protections for even an inadvertent violation of a terms of service or privacy agreement. Moreover, if a company does not anticipate in its terms of service or privacy agreements any circumstanceor eventuality in which it may –now or in the future –engage in the sharing or monitoring of cyber threats, it risks losing liability protections and being subject to litigation.

This is counter to the goal of CISA and will only discourage firms from participating in the voluntary sharing process, weakening our collective ability to defend against cyber attacks. As such, we encourage you to oppose this amendment.

Sincerely,

American Bankers Association

American Cable Association

American Coatings Association

American Gas Association

America’s Health Insurance Plans

American Insurance Association

American Petroleum Institute

American Water Works Association

CompTIA

Consumer Bankers Association

Consumer Data Industry Association

Credit Union National Association

CTIA –The Wireless Association

Electronic Transactions Association

Federation of American Hospitals

Financial Services Roundtable

The GridWise Alliance

HITRUST –Health Information Trust Alliance

Independent Community Bankers of America

NACHA–The Electronic Payments Association

National Association of Federal Credit Union

National Association of Manufacturers

NationalAssociation of Mutual Insurance Companies

National Business Coalition on E-Commerce & Privacy

National Cable & Telecommunications Association

NTCA –The Rural Broadband Association

Property Casualty Insurers Association of America

The Real Estate Roundtable

Securities Industry and Financial MarketsAssociation

The Clearing House

USTelecom Association

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Utilities Telecom Council

CC:Members of the U.S. Senate