Sen. Rick Scott is proposing a bill to prepare U.S. critical infrastructure against cybersecurity threats from China.
The Florida Republican’s recently announced legislation, the Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act, would create an interagency task force to monitor Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors, most notably the group known as Volt Typhoon.
Volt Typhoon is labeled an advanced persistent threat engaged in cyberespionage on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, targeting critical infrastructure in the communications, energy, transportation and water domains by burrowing into the IT environments, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In February 2024, the FBI and the CISA warned that the cyber group compromised networks in all such critical sectors.
“Now, imagine if tomorrow that access we’ve become familiar and comfortable with became our biggest threat,” Mr. Scott and Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican sponsoring a similar House bill, wrote in a Breitbart op-ed. “Think of a world in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were able to launch a cyber-attack and target your power and water, block your bank accounts, or turn off your internet.”
The bill establishes a task force of cybersecurity experts, led by the directors of CISA and the FBI, and includes representatives from sector risk management agencies. The ad hoc group is intended to facilitate collaboration and coordination among such agencies to detect, analyze and respond to Chinese-linked cyber threats by ensuring that the agencies are “aligned and mutually reinforcing.”
The task force would submit reports and briefings to Congress that address the tactics of Chinese state-sponsored actors and how to counter them, assess potential damage to U.S. critical infrastructure and assess the economic consequences of a major disruption.
“As the world’s leading digital economy, America has the most to lose in a cyberattack,” Mr. Scott, a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement. “If we don’t secure our digital infrastructure, hackers could cut power to your house, empty your bank account, or disable life support for a loved one in the hospital.”
The Senate bill is a companion to Mr. Ogles’ House bill, which passed the lower chamber in November.
“The House has done its job in passing this bill,” Mr. Scott said. “Now we need the Senate to do ours.”
The duo described this measure as “proactive steps to enhance our cybersecurity, not wait until catastrophe strikes and it’s too late.”
They added in their op-ed, “This is not a partisan game; it is literally a matter of the lights turning on when you hit the switch. It could mean the difference of life and death for a loved one in the hospital. We cannot allow Americans to be at the mercy of Chinese hackers.”
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