Senators want to allow crypto firms to share cyber threat info

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), have drafted a new bill that would create parameters for the voluntary sharing of cybersecurity information between cryptocurrency companies and the federal government. 

The pair's bill would amend the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 to include cryptocurrency companies, and grant them more legal flexibility to share information between themselves and with federal authorities. 

The new legislation, called the “Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act,” offers parameters on the voluntary sharing of cybersecurity information between cryptocurrency companies, and with the federal government. The act is designed to provide an updated set of regulatory guidelines that addresses the misuse of cryptocurrency to hide illegal practices, according to a statement Blackburn provided to TechCrunch, which first reported the legislation. Included in the act are voluntary reporting guidelines for cyberthreats to companies dealing with digital assets.

The bill covers businesses engaged in validating transactions on distributed ledgers, developing digital assets or protocols for digital assets, and associations of entities managing digital assets. The legislation also includes providers of general liability or property insurance that offer products to cover losses related to ransomware, data breaches, business interruption, or network damage. Those businesses would be permitted to share data among one another and other countries for the purposes of identifying and reporting potential cyberthreat indicators.

Blackburn sits on the Senate Commerce Committee, which holds jurisdiction over cybersecurity and tech issues. She also introduced the "Say No to the Silk Road Act," a bill that called on the Secretary of Commerce to produce a series of reports on China's use of the digital yuan.