Finally, a meaningful congressional report on stemming cybersecurity attacks

As a new Congress arrives next month, expect a whirlwind of activity on the cybersecurity and privacy fronts. From major data breaches to the growing consumer data privacy morass, the frenetic pace of Washington developments will heat up. Most of this activity will obscure the fundamentals of why we have never-ending breaches, personal data exposures and chronic digital insecurity. A just-issued report by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversights and Investigations is, however, a refreshing departure from the usual political drama because it delves into this very question. The Cybersecurity Strategy Report released on December 7 sidesteps the crises du jour by taking a bigger picture, practical and non-partisan view of what’s going wrong and how to fix things. It seeks to articulate how “traditional information technology (IT) strategies seem largely ineffective at stemming the growing tide of cybersecurity incidents.”