American Cybersecurity Literacy Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4055) to establish a cybersecurity literacy campaign, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4055

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``American Cybersecurity Literacy Act''. SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of the Congress that the United States has a national security and economic interest in promoting cybersecurity literacy amongst the general public. SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CYBERSECURITY LITERACY CAMPAIGN.

(a) In General.--The Assistant Secretary shall develop and conduct a cybersecurity literacy campaign (which shall be available in multiple languages and formats, if practicable) to increase the knowledge and awareness of the American people of best practices to reduce cybersecurity risks.

(b) Campaign.--To reduce cybersecurity risks, the Assistant Secretary shall--

(1) educate the American people on how to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks and cybersecurity risks, including by--

(A) instructing the American people on how to identify--

(i) phishing emails and messages; and

(ii) secure websites;

(B) instructing the American people about the benefits of changing default passwords on hardware and software technology;

(C) encouraging the use of cybersecurity tools, including--

(i) multi-factor authentication;

(ii) complex passwords;

(iii) anti-virus software;

(iv) patching and updating software and applications; and

(v) virtual private networks;

(D) identifying the devices that could pose possible cybersecurity risks, including--

(i) personal computers;

(ii) smartphones;

(iii) tablets;

(iv) Wi-Fi routers;

(v) smart home appliances;

(vi) webcams;

(vii) internet-connected monitors; and

(viii) any other device that can be connected to the internet, including mobile devices other than smartphones and tablets;

(E) encouraging Americans to--

(i) regularly review mobile application permissions;

(ii) decline privilege requests from mobile applications that are unnecessary;

(iii) download applications only from trusted vendors or sources; and

(iv) consider a product's life cycle and the developer or manufacturer's commitment to providing security updates during a connected device's expected period of use; and

(F) identifying the potential cybersecurity risks of using publicly available Wi-Fi networks and the methods a user may utilize to limit such risks; and

(2) encourage the American people to use resources to help mitigate the cybersecurity risks identified in this subsection.

(c) Assistant Secretary Defined.--In this section, the term ``Assistant Secretary'' means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.

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Mr. PALLONE. 4055.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4055, the American Cybersecurity Literacy Act. Cybersecurity threats targeting Americans are increasingly common, particularly since wireless devices proliferate our society.

H.R. 4055, the American Cybersecurity Literacy Act, is intended to help Americans arm themselves with the information and tools they need to prevent being a victim of a cyberattack. The bipartisan legislation requires the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information to create and conduct a cybersecurity campaign to increase the knowledge and awareness of best practices to avoid cyberattacks.

The bill also requires the campaign to, among other things, provide instructions about how to identify common problematic attacks like phishing emails and unsecure websites. The campaign will also highlight the benefits of changing default passwords and encouraging the use of cybersecurity tools like multifactor identification and complex passwords.

Finally, to ensure that as many Americans as possible can benefit from this information, the legislation requires the campaign to be in as many languages and formats as practicable.

This legislation will arm the American people with critical information that they need to ensure they are not the victim of a cyberattack. It is important to note that by passing this bill we are not shifting the burden of preventing cybersecurity attacks away from large, sophisticated companies and onto individuals. Companies still have the primary responsibility of preventing these attacks, and there is still much work to do, but this legislation adds additional layers of protection by giving consumers the tools and information to protect themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I want to applaud Representatives Kinzinger, Eshoo, Veasey, Houlahan, and Bilirakis for their work on this important bipartisan bill that continues our work of protecting consumers.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I urge support again for the bipartisan bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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