Cybersecurity Enhancement Act

The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (H.R. 4061), introduced by Representative Daniel Lipinski, would improve the security of cyberspace by ensuring federal investments in cybersecurity are better focused and more effective, and that research into innovative, transformative technologies is supported. The bill would reauthorize and expand the Cyber Security Research and Development Act.

The federal government’s cybersecurity activities are divided among several agencies and programs, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program. NSF is the main agency supporting non-classified cybersecurity research and development (R&D), and education.  This bill would reauthorize NSF’s cybersecurity research program, the Trustworthy Computing program. It would also formally establish the Scholarship for Service program, which would provide funding to colleges and universities to award scholarships to students in the information assurance and computer security fields in exchange for their service in the federal government after they have completed their training.

Additionally, the bill would require NIST to develop and implement a public cybersecurity awareness and education program to encourage the more widespread adoption of best practices. NIST would also be required to develop a plan to ensure representation in all important international cybersecurity technical standards development initiatives, and that this representation works from one coordinated U.S. federal government strategy.