House approves bill to enhance cyber information sharing among state, local governments

Under a bill approved by the House of Representatives, state, local, territorial and tribal governments would be able to receive training and information about "cybersecurity threat indicators and response actions" from the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) at the Department of Homeland Security.

According to an update from the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act (S. 2520) would permit NCCIC to coordinate, upon request, with state, local, territorial, and tribal government entities on cybersecurity activities. Specifically, NCCIC could engage with willing governmental entities to conduct exercises, provide operational and technical cybersecurity training, assist with information sharing efforts, provide notifications about specific incident and malware information, share information on cybersecurity tools, resources, and policies, and promote cybersecurity education and awareness.