[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 59 (Monday, March 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17193-17194]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06856]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

[Docket No. DHS-2015-0068]


National Protection and Programs Directorate; National Protection 
and Programs Directorate Seeks Comments on Cyber Incident Data 
Repository White Papers

AGENCY: National Protection and Programs Directorate, DHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) National 
Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) announces that it is seeking 
comments on three white papers prepared by NPPD staff from any 
interested party, including, but not limited to: members of the 
cybersecurity and insurance communities; chief information security 
officers (CISOs); chief security officers (CSOs); academia; Federal, 
State, and local governments; industry; and professional organizations/
societies. Links to the white papers are posted on the cybersecurity 
insurance section of DHS.gov: http://www.dhs.gov/publication/cyber-incident-data-and-analysis-working-group-white-papers. Comments will 
assist NPPD further refine the content of the white papers to address 
the critical need for information sharing as a means to create a more 
robust cybersecurity insurance marketplace and improve enterprise cyber 
hygiene practices across the public and private sectors.

DATES: The suggested dates for submission of comments on the white 
papers are: March 24, 2016 through May 24, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the white papers must be submitted to NPPD via 
email to the following address: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Shabat, Director, Performance 
Management, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at 703-235-5338 
or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: Cybersecurity insurance is designed to mitigate losses 
from a variety of cyber incidents, including data breaches, business 
interruption, and network damage. A robust cybersecurity insurance 
market could help reduce the number of successful cyber attacks by: (1) 
Promoting the adoption of preventative measures in return for more 
coverage; and (2) encouraging the implementation of best practices by 
basing premiums on an insured's level of self-protection. Many 
companies forego available policies; however, citing as rationales the 
perceived high cost of those policies, confusion about what they cover, 
and uncertainty that their organizations will suffer a cyber attack. In 
recent years, NPPD has engaged key stakeholders to address this 
emerging cyber risk area.
    Between October 2012 and April 2014, DHS NPPD conducted several 
workshops, which brought together a diverse group of private and public 
sector stakeholders--including insurers, risk managers, CISOs, critical 
infrastructure owners, and social scientists. Workshop participants 
examined the current state of the cybersecurity insurance market and 
how to best advance its capacity to incentivize better cyber risk 
management.
    During those workshops, participants expressed strong support for 
the creation of a trusted cyber incident data repository. As 
envisioned, the repository would store, aggregate, and

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analyze cyber incident data relevant to the cyber risk management 
community, including risk mitigation experts (CISOs, CSOs, 
cybersecurity solutions providers); risk transfer experts (insurers); 
and other cybersecurity subject matter experts (the academic and 
scientific communities). As further envisioned, DHS or other Federal 
departments or agencies would not build or manage such a repository. A 
resulting repository could potentially be managed by a private 
organization.
    In February 2015, as a follow-on to the workshops, NPPD established 
a Cyber Incident Data and Analysis Working Group (CIDAWG), comprised of 
CISOs and CSOs from various critical infrastructure sectors, insurers, 
and other cybersecurity professionals. The CIDAWG is currently 
exploring how anonymous cyber incident data sharing could help grow the 
cybersecurity insurance marketplace through a legally compliant, 
privacy respecting, and trusted cyber incident data repository and 
repository data supported analyses. In turn, this would work to improve 
cybersecurity for U.S. public sector agencies and private sector 
companies. To accomplish this, the CIDAWG has worked to develop key 
findings about:
    1. The value proposition of a cyber incident data repository;
    2. The cyber incident data points that should be shared into a 
repository to support needed analysis;
    3. Overcoming perceived obstacles to sharing into a Cyber Incident 
data Repository; and
    4. A potential repository's structure and functions.

The findings of this effort to date are summarized in a series of three 
white papers.
    This announcement explains the process for submitting comments on 
the white papers. Comments on the white papers are valued and will 
enable NPPD to incorporate input from a wide audience. Each white paper 
is briefly detailed below, followed by questions on which NPPD seeks 
comments.
    (1) The Value Proposition. Details how a cyber incident data 
repository could help advance the cause of cyber risk management and, 
with the right repository data, the kinds of analysis that would be 
useful to CISOs, CSOs, insurers, and other cybersecurity professionals. 
NPPD seeks comments on the following:
    a. What value would an anonymized and trusted cyber incident data 
repository, as described in the white paper, have in terms of informing 
and improving cyber risk management practices?
    b. Do you agree with the potential benefits of an anonymized and 
trusted repository, as outlined in the white paper, that enterprise 
risk owners and insurers could use to share, store, aggregate, and 
analyze sensitive cyber incident data?
    c. Are there additional benefits of an anonymized and trusted 
repository that are not mentioned in the white paper? Please explain 
them briefly.
    d. What kinds of analysis from an anonymized and trusted repository 
would be most useful to your organization?
    (2) Cyber Incident Data Points and Repository-Supported Analysis. 
Addresses the kinds of prioritized data categories and associated data 
points that should be shared among repository users to promote new 
kinds of needed cyber risk analysis. NPPD seeks comments on the 
following:
    a. Could specific data points within the 16 data categories 
effectively inform analysis to bolster cyber risk management 
activities?
    b. Are the 16 data categories accurately defined?
    c. What additional data categories could inform useful analysis to 
improve cyber risk management practices?
    d. What do these additional data categories mean from a CISO or 
other cybersecurity professional perspective?
    e. Please rank the level of importance for each data category, 
including any additional data categories that you have identified.
    f. What value does each data category and associated data points 
bring to a better understanding of cyber incidents and their impacts?
    g. What does each data point actually mean (and to whom); and which 
ones are the greatest priority, to which stakeholders, and why?
    h. How easy/difficult would it be to access data associated with 
these categories in your organization and then share it into a 
repository and why?
    (3) Overcoming perceived obstacles to sharing into a Cyber Incident 
data Repository. Identifies perceived obstacles to voluntary cyber 
incident data sharing and offers potential approaches to overcoming 
those obstacles. NPPD seeks comments on the following:
    a. Would your organization be interested in contributing to a cyber 
incident data repository and using repository-supported analysis to 
improve your organization's risk management practices?
    b. What obstacles do you anticipate--both internal and external to 
your organization--that might prevent the sharing of cyber incident 
data into a repository?
    i. Who might say `no' to sharing and why?
    c. What mechanisms, policies, and procedures could help overcome 
these obstacles to sharing?
    In this call for comments on the white papers, NPPD is seeking 
input on any or all of the above listed questions. NPPD may use 
comments to further develop the content of each white paper as 
appropriate. Do not include ideas for specific proposals in your 
comments on the white papers (i.e., do not discuss your specific 
solution to the repository concept). This solicitation for comments on 
white papers is neither a Request for Proposals (RFPs) nor should it be 
viewed as a request for pre-proposals. Rather, it is a way to include 
ideas from the public to enhance the research and findings of the 
CIDAWG to better understand the potential of an anonymized and trusted 
cyber incident data repository to address the cybersecurity needs of 
the public and private sectors.
    Comments on white papers must not contain proprietary information. 
Submission of comments on any of the white papers means that the 
author(s) agrees that all the information in the comments on the white 
papers can be made available to the public. Information contained in 
these comments on the white papers will be considered and combined with 
information from other resources, including NPPD, the CIDAWG, other 
government agencies, cybersecurity and insurance communities, and other 
stakeholders to refine the focus of the white papers and are part of 
NPPD's collaborative outreach. Comments on the white papers are a 
valuable resource that adds to NPPD's understanding of the significance 
and scope of national cybersecurity and critical infrastructure needs. 
NPPD's statutory authority is the Critical Infrastructure Partnership 
Advisory Council, which is consistent with sec. 201 of the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002 (the ``Act''), 6 U.S.C. 121, and pursuant to sec. 
871(a) of the Act, 6 U.S.C. 451(a).

    Dated: March 16, 2016.
Matthew Shabat,
Director, Performance Management, Office of Cybersecurity and 
Communications, National Protection and Programs Directorate, 
Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2016-06856 Filed 3-25-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 9110-9P-P