We use cookies to give you the best online experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy. Learn more here.Close Me
CEOs of the top 500 U.S. companies receive call to action on
cybersecurity protection issues from Senator Rockefeller.
On September 19, Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman
of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation, sent a letter to the CEOs of the top 500 U.S.
businesses expressing disappointment over the U.S. Senate's
recent rejection of the proposed Cybersecurity Act.1 The
act aimed to enhance the security and resiliency of the cyber and
communications infrastructure of the United States.
In the letter, Senator Rockefeller requests that CEOs help him
understand their companies' views on cybersecurity by answering
the following eight questions:
Has your company adopted a set of best practices to address its
own cybersecurity needs?
If so, how were these cybersecurity practices developed?
Were they developed by the company solely, or were they
developed outside the company? If developed outside the company,
please list the institution, association, or entity that developed
them.
When were these cybersecurity practices developed? How
frequently have they been updated? Does your company's board of
directors or audit committee keep abreast of developments regarding
the development and implementation of these practices?
Has the federal government played any role, whether advisory or
otherwise, in the development of these cybersecurity
practices?
What are your concerns, if any, with a voluntary program that
enables the federal government and the private sector to develop,
in coordination, best cybersecurity practices for companies to
adopt as they so choose, as outlined in the Cybersecurity Act of
2012?
What are your concerns, if any, with the federal government
conducting risk assessments, in coordination with the private
sector, to best understand where our nation's cyber
vulnerabilities are, as outlined in the Cybersecurity Act of
2012?
What are your concerns, if any, with the federal government
determining, in coordination with the private sector, the
country's most critical cyber infrastructure, as outlined in
the Cybersecurity Act of 2012?
Senator Rockefeller's letter to the CEOs was sent after
receiving a response from the Obama administration to his call for
the White House to issue an executive order on
cybersecurity.2 In the opinion of Senator
Rockefeller,3 the executive order should do the
following:
Begin with a comprehensive and collaborative government-private
sector risk assessment to inventory the threats and vulnerabilities
that pose particular risks to particular categories of critical
infrastructure.
Draw on government and private sector expertise to develop
dynamic and adaptable cybersecurity practices that are best suited
for each critical infrastructure sector.
Implement these practices through private sector collaboration
with, and assistance from, an interagency effort that includes the
Departments of Defense, Commerce, and Justice, as well as other
sector-specific agencies and regulators, and is led by the
Department of Homeland Security.
The recipients of Senator Rockefeller's letter are in the
process of considering how best to respond to the communication.
The letter requests responses from the CEOs by Friday, October 19,
2012.
Contacts
A diverse group of lawyers with senior-level executive branch
and government regulatory agency backgrounds forms the core of
Morgan Lewis's Washington, D.C., Government Relations and
Public Policy Practice, which is well positioned to advise Fortune
500 companies that have received Senator Rockefeller's letter.
The practice is built around alumni from both Republican and
Democratic administrations, ensuring a multidimensional perspective
on all matters.
On March 30, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision imposing certain socio-economic contract requirements on subcontractors operating hospitals associated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centers.
The Department of Defense has issued a new instruction that establishes internal DOD policies for detecting, avoiding, and remediating counterfeit parts in the DOD supply chain, and allocates responsibility among various DOD offices and functions for administering or developing those counterfeit prevention policies.
The Supreme Court of the United States has recently issued a unanimous decision upholding citizen-specific limitations in the State of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.
In 1997, the Virginia Supreme Court sent a chill down the spines of many companies operating under teaming agreements with a Virginia choice of law provision. In W.J. Schafer Associates, Inc. v. Cordant, Inc., 493 S.E. 2d 514 (Va. 1997), that court held a teaming agreement to be unenforceable on the ground that "agreements to agree in the future" are "too vague and too indefinite to be enforced."
