[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 60 (Thursday, March 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18954-18955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07234]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 60 / Thursday, March 28, 2013 / 
Notices  

[[Page 18954]]



DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Office of the Secretary

National Institute of Standards and Technology

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

[Docket Number 130206115-3115-01]


Incentives To Adopt Improved Cybersecurity Practices

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of inquiry.

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SUMMARY: The President has directed the Secretary of Commerce to 
evaluate a set of incentives designed to promote participation in a 
voluntary program to be established by the Secretary of Homeland 
Security to support the adoption by owners and operators of critical 
infrastructure and other interested entities of the Cybersecurity 
Framework being developed by the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST). The evaluation will include analysis of the benefits 
and relative effectiveness of such incentives, and whether the 
incentives would require legislation or can be provided under existing 
law and authorities to participants in the Program. The Department of 
Commerce (Department) will use input received in response to this 
Notice to inform its recommendations, which will focus on incentives 
for critical infrastructure owners. In addition, the Department may use 
this input to develop a broader set of recommendations that apply to 
U.S. industry as a whole.

DATES: Comments are due on or before April 29, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Office of 
Policy Analysis and Development, National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 
Constitution Avenue NW., Room 4725, Washington, DC 20230. Comments may 
be submitted electronically to [email protected]. All email 
messages and comments received are a part of the public record and will 
be made available to the public generally without change on the 
Internet Policy Task Force Web page at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/category/cybersecurity. For this reason, comments should not include 
confidential, proprietary, or business sensitive information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this Notice, 
contact: Alfred Lee, Office of Policy Analysis and Development, 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Room 4725, 
Washington, DC 20230, telephone (202) 482-1880; or send an email to 
[email protected]. Please direct media inquiries to the 
Office of Public Affairs at (202) 482-4883; or send an email to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The national and economic security of the 
United States depends on the reliable functioning of the Nation's 
critical infrastructure. The cyber threat to critical infrastructure is 
growing and represents one of the most serious national security 
challenges that the United States must confront. On February 12, 2013, 
the President signed Executive Order 13636, ``Improving Critical 
Infrastructure Cybersecurity.'' \1\ As the President stated in the 
Executive Order, ``repeated cyber intrusions into America's critical 
infrastructure demonstrate a need for improved cybersecurity.'' \2\
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    \1\ ``Exec. Order No. 13636, 78 FR 11739 (Feb. 19, 2013), 
available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/02/19/2013-03915/improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity.
    \2\ Id.
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    The Executive Order establishes a policy of enhancing the security 
and resilience of the Nation's critical infrastructure and maintaining 
a cyber environment that encourages efficiency, innovation, and 
economic prosperity while promoting safety, security, business 
confidentiality, privacy and civil liberties through a partnership with 
the owners and operators of critical infrastructure \3\ to improve 
cybersecurity information sharing and collaboratively develop and 
implement risk-based standards. The Executive Order sets forth three 
elements to establish this partnership. First, the Department of 
Homeland Security (``DHS'') will use a risk-based approach to identify 
critical infrastructure where a cybersecurity incident could reasonably 
result in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or 
safety, economic security, or national security. Second, the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology will develop a framework 
consisting of a set of standards, methodologies, procedures, and 
processes that align policy, business, and technological approaches to 
address cyber risks (``the Framework''), which will provide a 
prioritized, flexible, repeatable, performance-based, and cost-
effective approach, including information security measures and 
controls, to help owners and operators of critical infrastructure 
indentify, assess, and manage cyber risk. Third, DHS, in coordination 
with sector-specific agencies, will develop the Critical Infrastructure 
Cybersecurity Program (``the Program'') to promote voluntary adoption 
of the Framework.
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    \3\ For the purposes of this Notice, the term ``critical 
infrastructure'' has the meaning given the term in 42 U.S.C. Sec.  
5195c(e): ``systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so 
vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of 
such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on 
security, national economic security, national public health or 
safety, or any combination of those matters.''
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    The Executive Order recognizes that further incentives may be 
necessary to encourage sufficient private sector participation in the 
Program. To develop a clearer picture of existing and potential 
incentives, the Executive Order directs the Department of Commerce to 
recommend ways to promote participation in the Program.\4\ The 
recommendations ``shall include analysis of the benefits and relative 
effectiveness of such incentives, and whether the incentives would 
require legislation or can be provided under existing law and 
authorities to participants of the Program.'' Consistent

[[Page 18955]]

with the Executive Order, these incentives may include technical and 
public policy measures that improve cybersecurity without creating 
barriers to innovation, economic growth, and the free flow of 
information. The Department of Commerce will submit its recommendations 
to the President through the Assistant to the President for Homeland 
Security and Counterterrorism and the Assistant to the President for 
Economic Affairs no later than June 12, 2013.
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    \4\ The Executive Order also directs the Secretaries of the 
Treasury and Homeland Security to recommend incentives to 
participate in the Program. The Secretary of Defense and the 
Administrator of General Services are also tasked with reporting on 
government procurement-related issues.
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    Improving cybersecurity practices among entities that do not own or 
operate critical infrastructure, or for other reasons are unlikely to 
join the Program, is also an important Executive Branch priority. 
Therefore, the Department of Commerce also seeks comment on a broader 
set of incentives that could help to promote the adoption of proven 
efforts to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
    The Department of Commerce asked questions related to incentives 
for noncritical infrastructure in a July 2010 Notice of Inquiry.\5\ 
Responses to the July 2010 Notice aided the Department's efforts to 
promote standards and best practices and informed its June 2011 ``Green 
Paper,'' Cybersecurity, Innovation and the Internet Economy.\6\ Along 
with the responses to this Notice, the Department plans to draw again 
on earlier responses in the development of recommendations to the 
President on incentives. In addition, the Department plans to use 
responsive comments to inform a follow-up to the Green Paper.
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    \5\ Dept. of Commerce, Cybersecurity, Innovation, and the 
Internet Economy, 75 FR 44216 (July 28, 2010) (Notice of Inquiry), 
available at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/frnotices/2010/FR_CybersecurityNOI_07282010.pdf. Comments received in response to the 
2010 Notice of Inquiry are available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/cybercomments.cfm.
    \6\ Dept. of Commerce, Cybersecurity, Innovation, and the 
Internet Economy (June 2011), http://www.nist.gov/itl/upload/Cybersecurity_Green-Paper_FinalVersion.pdf. The questions asked in 
the Green Paper are available at Dept. of Commerce, Cybersecurity, 
Innovation, and the Internet Economy, 76 FR 34965 (June 15, 2011), 
available at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/federal-register-notice/2011/cybersecurity-innovation-and-internet-economy. Comments received in 
response to the Green Paper are available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/greenpapercomments.cfm.
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    Stakeholders that responded to the July 2010 Notice may wish to 
focus on the following questions:
     Have your viewpoints on any questions related to 
incentives for noncritical infrastructure changed since you filed them 
in response to the July 2010 Notice?
     Do your comments related to incentives for noncritical 
infrastructure also apply equally to critical infrastructure?
     Does anything in the Executive Order or recent legislative 
proposals change your views on what incentives will be necessary or how 
they can be achieved? In particular, would the incentives that you 
previously discussed be effective in encouraging all firms that 
participate in the Internet economy to participate in the Program? 
Would these incentives encourage critical infrastructure companies to 
join the Program?
    In answering these questions, commenters should not limit their 
responses to incentives that are feasible under existing law.
    For all stakeholders, particularly those that did not respond to 
these earlier inquiries, the Department of Commerce requests comments 
on any of the following questions:
     Are existing incentives adequate to address the current 
risk environment for your sector/company?
     Do particular business sectors or company types lack 
sufficient incentives to make cybersecurity investments more than 
others? If so, why?
     How do businesses/your business assess the costs and 
benefits of enhancing their cybersecurity?
     What are the best ways to encourage businesses to make 
investments in cybersecurity that are appropriate for the risks that 
they face?
     How do businesses measure success and the cost-
effectiveness of their current cybersecurity programs?
     Are there public policies or private sector initiatives in 
the United States or other countries that have successfully increased 
incentives to make security investments or other investments that can 
be applied to security?
     Are there disincentives or barriers that inhibit 
cybersecurity investments by firms? Are there specific investment 
challenges encountered by small businesses and/or multinational 
companies, respectively? If so, what are the disincentives, barriers or 
challenges and what should be done to eliminate them?
     Are incentives different for small businesses? If so, how?
     For American businesses that are already subject to 
cybersecurity requirements, what is the cost of compliance and is it 
burdensome relative to other costs of doing business?
     What are the merits of providing legal safe-harbors to 
individuals and commercial entities that participate in the DHS 
Program? By contrast, what would be the merits or implications of 
incentives that hold entities accountable for failure to exercise 
reasonable care that results in a loss due to inadequate security 
measures?
     What would be the impact of requiring entities to join the 
DHS Program prior to receiving government financial guarantees or 
assistance in relevant sectors?
     How can liability structures and insurance, respectively, 
be used as incentives?
     What other market tools are available to encourage 
cybersecurity best practices?
     Should efforts be taken to better promote and/or support 
the adoption of the Framework or specific standards, practices, and 
guidelines beyond the DHS Program? If so, what efforts would be 
effective?
     In what way should these standards, practices, and 
guidelines be promoted to small businesses and multinationals, 
respectively, and through what mechanisms? How can they be promoted and 
adapted for multinational companies in various jurisdictions?
     What incentives are there to ensure that best practices 
and standards, once adopted, are updated in the light of changing 
threats and new business models?
     Voluntary industry sector governance mechanisms are 
sometimes used to stimulate organizations to conform to a set of 
principles, guidelines, and operations based on best practices, 
standards, and conformity assessment processes that collectively 
increase the level of assurance while preserving organizations' brand 
standing and the integrity of products and services.
    [cir] Do organizations participate in voluntary governance 
mechanisms?
    [cir] Which industries/groups have voluntary governance mechanisms?
    [cir] Do existing voluntary governance mechanisms have 
cybersecurity-related constraints?
    [cir] What are the benefits and challenges associated with 
voluntary governance mechanisms?

    Dated: March 22, 2013.
Rebecca M. Blank,
Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
Patrick Gallagher,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology.
Lawrence E. Strickling,
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information.
[FR Doc. 2013-07234 Filed 3-27-13; 8:45 am]
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