Mix of federal cyber laws hurts security and competitiveness, businesses tell White House

The White House on Tuesday publicly shared the feedback it received on how to best untangle federal cybersecurity regulations, as congressional appetite grows for the administration to tackle the longstanding problem.

“It was overwhelmingly evident that respondents believe that there was a lack of cybersecurity regulatory harmonization and reciprocity and that this posed a challenge to both cybersecurity outcomes and to business competitiveness,” National Cyber Director Harry Coker wrote in a blog post. “This was true for businesses of all sectors and of all sizes.”

The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) said it received 86 “unique” responses — including from 11 of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors — to a request for information issued last August.

The overview was released the day before the Senate Homeland Security Committee holds a hearing on the inconsistent digital regulations that businesses and other organizations face, with witnesses from ONCD and the Government Accountability Office slated to testify.

Recorded Future News first reported last week that panel chair Gary Peters (D-MI) is circulating legislation that would require ONCD to helm an interagency committee that would examine the overlapping cybersecurity regulations issued across the federal government.