Grid Vulnerabilities Trigger Legislative Action

A look at the week of June 6 in public advocacy for the IT channel

This week, Congress and the White House are pushing legislation to protect the U.S.’s energy grid and infrastructure from cyberattacks.  A new report claims that the information-sharing capabilities enabled by health IT will reduce healthcare’s costs and increase access.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to tackle data breach issues and consumer privacy.

Grid Vulnerabilities Trigger Legislative Action — Security gaps that hackers or terrorists could use to manipulate energy infrastructure, the electric grid, nuclear reactors and even the U.S. military have triggered a rare bipartisan legislative push from Congress and the White House, says the New York Times. The cooperative effort arrives amid repeated messaging on Capitol Hill from lawmakers, top federal energy regulators and industry groups: The electric grid is vulnerable and so is the United States' energy infrastructure.

Health Reform Hinges on IT — According to Nextgov.com, a recent report by the nonprofit Bipartisan Policy Center claims that health IT is the primary cure to what ails the country's healthcare system.  Health IT’s ability to dramatically increase information-sharing among a network of healthcare providers will provide greater patient access to health information and drive down healthcare costs.

Focus on Data Breaches Tops House Commerce Privacy Agenda — The House Energy and Commerce Committee released an agenda Wednesday detailing how it plans to examine privacy issues during the remainder of this legislative session. The Committee will first focus on the risk posed to consumer data from security breaches, reports Tech Daily Dose.  After addressing data security, the committee said it then will turn its attention to broader electronic privacy issues and growing concerns about the collection of data from consumers as they surf the Internet.