Cameron Miranda
Cybersecurity laws in the United States are varied and often industry-specific. The primary law governing cybersecurity in the country is the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), which prohibits deceptive business practices and mandates companies to protect customer data. Other notable federal laws include the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which safeguards patient health information, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which regulates financial information handling. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) mandates government agencies to protect their information systems, while the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) encourages threat information sharing between the government and the private sector. These laws form the foundation of US cybersecurity, aiming to protect individuals, businesses, and critical infrastructure from cyber threats.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Primary law governing cybersecurity in the US | Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) |
| Law prohibiting deceptive acts and practices in business | Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) |
| Law requiring companies to protect customer data | Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA/GLB) |
| Law protecting patient health information | Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) |
| Law requiring government agencies to protect their information systems | Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) |
| Law encouraging sharing of cyber threat information | Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) |
| Law requiring companies to disclose security breaches | Notice of Security Breach Act (2003) |
| Law providing residents greater control over their data | California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) |
| Law requiring companies to implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards | New York SHIELD Act |
| Law requiring companies to report covered cybersecurity incidents within 72 hours | Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA) |
| Law attempting to control and modernize medical and healthcare information flow | Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) |
| Law requiring financial institutions to explain their information-sharing practices | Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA/GLB) |
| Law requiring companies to protect financial information | Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) |
| Law providing guidelines for governmental agencies to approach cybersecurity | Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations (NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5) |
| Law creating awareness about the growing threat of cybercrimes | Cybersecurity National Security Action Plan (CNAP) |
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What You'll Learn
The Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA)
Under the FTCA, the FTC can take action against companies that engage in unfair or deceptive practices, such as misleading consumers about their data privacy or failing to safeguard sensitive information. For example, the FTC took action against General Motors for sharing drivers' location and behaviour data without consent and against GoDaddy for alleged lax data security.
The FTCA also enables the FTC to prescribe rules and define specific acts or practices that are considered unfair or deceptive. This allows the Commission to adapt to evolving business practices and technologies and ensure companies keep pace with changing expectations and requirements regarding data security.
In addition to its role in enforcing the FTCA, the FTC also enforces other laws that relate to cybersecurity, such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or GLB. The GLBA focuses on the collection and handling of financial information, requiring companies to protect customer data they collect. This Act ensures that any organisation collecting or storing financial data must comply with specific standards to safeguard consumer information.
While the FTCA is a federal law, it is important to note that individual states in the US have also passed their own cybersecurity laws. These state-level laws add further complexity to the overall legal landscape of cybersecurity regulations, with businesses needing to navigate both federal and state requirements.
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The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
The GLBA aims to protect the privacy and security of individuals' financial information. It applies to any organization that collects, stores, or uses financial data, including financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. The act outlines several key provisions to ensure the protection of NPI:
- The Pretexting Provision prohibits the solicitation or disclosure of NPI by false pretenses or deception. It prevents unauthorized access to NPI and ensures that individuals' financial information is not obtained through fraudulent means.
- The Financial Privacy Rule governs the collection and disclosure of NPI. It requires financial institutions to provide written notice of their privacy practices and policies to their customers. This includes information on how NPI is collected, used, and shared with third parties.
- The Safeguards Rule mandates financial institutions to conduct a comprehensive assessment of internal and external risks to NPI. Based on this assessment, institutions must implement and maintain an information security program that addresses these risks. This includes establishing appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect NPI.
The GLBA also intersects with other regulations, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Colleges and universities that comply with FERPA, which protects the privacy of student records, are deemed to be in compliance with the privacy provisions of the GLBA.
Overall, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act plays a crucial role in ensuring the security and privacy of financial information in the United States. By regulating the collection, use, and protection of nonpublic personal information by financial institutions, the GLBA helps to safeguard individuals' sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access and use.
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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
In the United States, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law that protects patient health information. It was enacted in 1996 and establishes federal standards to protect sensitive health information from being disclosed without the patient's consent. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the HIPAA Privacy Rule to implement HIPAA requirements. The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals' protected health information (PHI) by entities subject to the rule. These entities are called "covered entities" and include health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare providers who conduct standard healthcare transactions electronically. The Privacy Rule also contains standards for individuals' rights to understand and control how their health information is used. It protects individual health information while allowing necessary access to health information, promoting high-quality healthcare, and protecting the public's health.
The HIPAA Security Rule protects specific information covered by the Privacy Rule. This subset is all individually identifiable health information that a covered entity creates, receives, maintains, or transmits in electronic form, referred to as electronic protected health information (ePHI). To comply with the Security Rule, covered entities must ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all e-PHI, detect and safeguard against anticipated threats to the security of the information, and protect against anticipated impermissible uses or disclosures that are not allowed by the rule. The Security Rule establishes a national set of security standards to protect health information maintained or transmitted in electronic form.
The Administrative Simplification provisions of HIPAA required HHS to adopt national standards for electronic healthcare transactions and code sets, unique health identifiers, and security. HHS published a final Privacy Rule in December 2000, which was later modified in August 2002. This Rule set national standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information by three types of covered entities. HHS developed a proposed rule that included standards for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI and released it for public comment in August 1998. The final regulation, Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (commonly known as the Security Rule), was published in February 2003. At this time, the Security Rule only applied directly to covered entities, requiring that they implement a series of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, resulted in modifications to the Security Rule to implement provisions of the HITECH Act. In July 2010, the Department proposed these modifications, and in January 2013, the Department finalized changes to the Security Rule as part of the Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules under the HITECH Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Final Rule (commonly known as the 2013 Omnibus Final Rule). HHS enacted a final Omnibus rule that implements several provisions of the HITECH Act to strengthen the privacy and security protections for health information established under HIPAA, finalizing the Breach Notification Rule. HIPAA violations may result in civil monetary or criminal penalties, and all complaints should be reported to the HHS Office for Civil Rights.
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The Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA)
FISMA requires every government agency to develop a method to protect their information systems against cyberattacks. It also requires the head of each federal agency to provide information security protections that are commensurate with the risk and magnitude of the harm that could result from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of information and information systems.
The act also requires agency heads to report on the adequacy and effectiveness of the information security policies, procedures, and practices of their enterprise. Additionally, agencies must report the status of their information security programs to the OMB, and Inspectors General (IG) must conduct annual independent assessments of those programs. The OMB and DHS collaborate with interagency partners to develop the CIO FISMA metrics, and with IG partners to develop the IG FISMA metrics to facilitate these processes.
The 2014 update to FISMA simplified existing reporting requirements to eliminate inefficient or wasteful reporting, while also adding new reporting requirements for major information security incidents. This update also codified the DHS's role in administering the implementation of information security policies for federal Executive Branch civilian agencies, overseeing agencies' compliance with those policies, and assisting the OMB in developing those policies.
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The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA)
CISA encourages organisations to share information on cyber threats and indicators, as well as defensive measures, to help prevent and mitigate cyber-attacks. This sharing is done through CISA's Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) program, which enables real-time exchange of information to protect against known threats. Additionally, CISA has developed partnerships to rapidly disseminate critical information about cyber incidents, helping to coordinate responses and reduce the impact of cyber-attacks.
While CISA has received support from some advocacy groups and senators, it has also faced opposition from privacy advocates and civil liberties groups. Opponents argue that CISA could increase the vulnerability of personal information by dispersing data across multiple government agencies. There are also concerns that it may facilitate surveillance rather than solely focusing on cybersecurity.
To address these concerns, CISA's supporters have emphasised the importance of information sharing in preventing cyber-attacks and strengthening cybersecurity defences. Proponents of CISA include senators Dianne Feinstein and Richard Burr, who cosponsored the bill. They believe that by sharing information, organisations can better protect themselves and the nation against cyber threats. However, other senators, such as Ron Wyden, Rand Paul, and Bernie Sanders, have joined privacy advocacy groups in expressing their opposition to the bill, citing concerns over potential privacy invasions and surveillance.
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Frequently asked questions
There are several key federal laws relating to cybersecurity in the US, including:
- The Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA)
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA/GLB)
- The Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA)
- The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA)
HIPAA was enacted in 1996 to protect patient health information and modernize medical and healthcare information flow. It ensures that sensitive patient data cannot be disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, enacted in 1999, regulates the collection and handling of financial information. It requires financial institutions to explain their information-sharing practices to customers and protect their data.
FISMA mandates that federal agencies develop comprehensive information security programs to protect their information systems against cyberattacks.
CISA was passed in 2015 to encourage the sharing of cyber threat information between the government and private sector. It helps improve threat intelligence and provides evidence to prosecute cybercriminals.
Yes, there are several other notable laws and regulations, including:
- The New York SHIELD Act, which sets reasonable security requirements for companies.
- The Biden administration's 2023 push for mandatory regulation on critical infrastructure vendors and a more aggressive "hack-back" approach to foreign adversaries.
- The Homeland Security Act, which includes FISMA and recognizes the importance of information security to economic and national security.
- The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), which expanded notification requirements and penalties in the case of a HIPAA breach.
