King Highlights Cost of Cyber-Attacks for Maine Businesses, Calls on Congress to Pass Cyber-Security Legislation

Statement

In remarks delivered on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, highlighted the growing financial toll that cyber-attacks and data breaches are inflicting on Maine businesses. Senator King's remarks come as Congress begins consideration of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA), legislation which seeks to strengthen U.S. cyber-defenses and protect businesses by incentivizing information-sharing practices. In his remarks, Senator King expressed support for the bill and encouraged his colleagues to pass it.

"In the state of Maine, we have to worry about it. I've been meeting with businesses large and small across the state. Every single one -- with one exception -- listed cyber-intrusion as one of their greatest issues," Senator King said. "This is real in our state. Today, no business is immune. No individual is immune, and, of course, this country is not immune. The price of inaction is just too high."

Over the past few years, Senator King's office has been in frequent contact with a variety of Maine businesses in the health, defense, financial, education, and consumer products sectors to understand how cyber-attacks and data breaches impact them. According to the Maine Credit Union League, data breaches over the past year in have cost Maine credit unions approximately $2 million to replace debit and credit cards and an additional $500,000 to cover fraud. Furthermore, one Maine healthcare provider explained how it experiences thousands of attempts every day to steal confidential data. Those threats led Senator King in August to co-host a cyber-security briefing with the Department of Homeland Security and Maine State Chamber of Commerce in Portland to inform local businesses about best practices to protect them from cyber-attacks.

Source