OLYMPIA… Sen. Matt Boehnke’s efforts to protect Washingtonians from malicious cyber activities, such as ransomware, took another step forward Thursday with the signing of his bill to reform the way the state prepares for – and responds to – such attacks.
“Cybersecurity is a challenging problem that will require a serious, committed, consistent, flexible and proactive approach, now and in the years to come,” said Boehnke, R-Kennewick. “This new law is about starting the process of integrating cybersecurity into our emergency processes the same way we do with floods, fires and other emergencies across the state. We have to look at our infrastructure, look at how we would respond, what are those contingency plans – how do we close the gaps within our agency plans.
“By passing this bill with such broad bipartisan support, and the governor signing it so quickly, we send the message that we as a state are committed to fighting these attacks and becoming resilient to them. By working through our technology service groups to coordinate our prevention and response efforts, and fill those gaps that leave us vulnerable, we will better protect the privacy of our citizens, the infrastructure of our economy and the security of our technology.”
Senate Bill 5518 establishes the Cybersecurity Advisory Committee as a subcommittee of the Emergency Management Council; creates the Technology Services Board Security Subcommittee within the Technology Services Board; and expands the Department of Commerce’s authority regarding energy-related activities to include preparing and updating contingency plans for securing energy infrastructure against all physical and cybersecurity threats.
The law that is created by SB 5518 will go into effect on July 23.
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