[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 188 (Tuesday, October 26, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H5882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1100
                     CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Clyde) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CLYDE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to continue to recognize the 
month of October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month and to further 
highlight the importance of cybersecurity across our country.
  Our Nation's safety and security are being challenged by enemies 
through cyberspace. As we have seen over the last year, these attacks 
can lie dormant for many months before being detected and can have 
devastating impacts on our economy and way of life. Furthermore, these 
cyberattacks can be carried out by both state and nonstate actors with 
ease, as they are relatively inexpensive to execute.
  There are certainly effective ways to immediately respond to a 
cyberattack, yet victims are often constrained due to lack of 
capabilities, knowledge, or resources.
  In many ways cyberattacks have emerged as a near-perfect weapon 
against our Nation. During these last 10 months in Congress, I have 
become aware of just how destructive a cyberattack can be on a small 
business. It makes no difference what the business does. The only 
concern of the thieves is that the business be vulnerable. That is what 
happened to a company in my district in rural north Georgia 3 years 
ago.
  The operations of a company that manufactured various bathroom 
fixtures came to a screeching halt when it was hijacked by a ransomware 
attack. This business was then forced to send a $100,000 ransom using 
cryptocurrency, bitcoin, to obtain the decryption key that would allow 
them to resume functioning. For almost 5 weeks their operations were 
shut down by the attack.
  When I spoke to the business management team, they told me the attack 
happened so quickly that they were not sure what to do or to whom to 
turn. In the end, this business suffered a loss of over $1 million in 
hard currency--money that had to be paid out to fix or replace 
equipment and almost $10 million in lost revenue.
  Any American or business can face the same horrifying reality. That 
is why it takes all of us to prevent these intrusions from occurring. 
It starts with fundamental cybersecurity practices that work to 
strengthen network resiliency; commonly known as good cyber hygiene.
  The Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 
Security Agency, known as CISA, spearheads efforts to educate Americans 
on what steps they can take to practice proper cyber hygiene.
  I fully support CISA's efforts in this endeavor and encourage 
everyone, especially businesses, to take a look at the resources CISA 
has to offer to be more safe and more secure online. Madam Speaker, you 
can find them online at www.CISA.gov.


                          Biden Border Crisis

  Mr. CLYDE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight the ongoing and 
record-breaking Biden border crisis. Hidden in last Friday's news dump, 
the latest data from Customs and Border Protection reveals Biden's 
self-inflicted crisis at our southern border is far from over. Last 
month there were 192,000 encounters at our southern border alone--a 232 
percent increase from September of last year. This is the seventh 
straight month of more than 170,000 illegal encounters--a trend never 
before recorded.
  This insanity must stop. The chaos at our southern border has now 
recklessly reached over 1.4 million illegal border crossings since 
President Biden took office. Yet during the President's townhall last 
week, he claimed that he hasn't had time to visit the crisis that he 
created. Keep in mind, Madam Speaker, the President has managed to 
visit his Delaware beach house almost every weekend of his Presidency.
  It is shameful, Madam Speaker, that the President doesn't feel the 
need to witness the very crisis that he created. I refuse to ignore 
this administration's blatant dereliction of duty. The country needs to 
continue to hear about it until the issue is fixed, and I will continue 
working with my Republican colleagues to strengthen border security and 
put Americans first.

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