CybersecurityMcCaul to draft cybersecurity bill

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Wednesday that he was drafting his own cybersecurity bill, which will define the role of  DHS  in sharing information with private companies about cyber threats.

The Hill reports that McCaul was a supporter of  the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The legislation was passed in the House despite a veto threat from the White House, and  McCaul says he plans to continue to work on the bill.

“I also intend to develop a bill out of the committee on Homeland Security that deals with the role of DHS and the sharing of … cyber threat information with the private sector and critical infrastructures to better protect them, so that we don’t see power grids coming down, financial infrastructures coming down,” McCaul said on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown.”

When asked about the privacy concerns CISPA has engendered, McCaul pointed to an amendment which would designate DHS as the clearinghouse for information-sharing  on cyber threats. The amendment was adopted in the final draft which passed last week.

Privacy advocates originally rallied against CISPA because it  would allow companies to share cyber threat information with the military and the National Security Agency (NSA) without having to remove the personal information of customers beforehand.

Those same advocates say the amendment is a step in the right direction, but it needs to go further to alleviate concerns about the legislation’s impact on  civil liberties.

McCaul also said that he has discussed the bill with the White House in an attempt to find mutual ground.

“I’ve actually worked with the White House on my amendment and also my bill, which I think is going to get more praise because it does have a civilian interface rather than military,” McCaul told MSNBC.