The Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S 754) by a vote of 74-21. The House of Representatives passed similar legislation—the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (HR 1560) and the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act (HR 1731)—in April 2015. If enacted into law, the legislation would allow businesses to voluntarily share information about cybersecurity attacks with federal agencies and each other in a secure manner that does not jeopardize the personal information of their customers. The bills also offer businesses certain liability protections when sharing information.

Now that the Senate and House have passed legislation, the bills will move to a conference to resolve differences and produce a compromise bill that can be sent to President Obama for his signature.

In response to the Senate vote, NEMA President and CEO Kevin J. Cosgriff noted that, “NEMA member companies offer their customers ever-increasing levels of internet-enabled functionality in their products. Cybersecurity is always front-of-mind as manufacturers develop new products, especially those installed in homes, hospitals, buildings, transportation, and the electric grid. Congress has taken an important first step by passing information sharing legislation, but there is more work to be done to protect against cyber- and physical-threats. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration as they do so.”

As electrical and medical imaging products become increasingly connected to the Internet and each other, NEMA is focused on helping manufacturers protect their businesses and their products from cyber-threats.

In June 2015, NEMA published Supply Chain Best Practices, a white paper that addresses U.S. supply chain integrity throughout the product lifecycle. The document identifies a recommended set of supply chain best practices and guidelines that electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers can implement during product development to minimize the possibility that bugs, malware, viruses, or other exploits can be used to negatively impact product operation. The paper can be downloaded at www.nema.org/Supply-Chain-Best-Practices.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) represents nearly 400 electrical, medical imaging, and radiation therapy manufacturers. Our combined industries account for more than 400,000 American jobs and more than 7,000 facilities across the United States. Domestic production exceeds $117 billion per year. Our industry is at the forefront on electrical safety, reliability, resilience, efficiency, and energy security.