[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 175 (Monday, September 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55833-55836]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19551]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

[Docket ID: CISA-2022-0010]


Request for Information on the Cyber Incident Reporting for 
Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022

AGENCY: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of 
Homeland Security.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is 
issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to receive input from the 
public as CISA develops proposed regulations required by the Cyber 
Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA). 
Among other things, CIRCIA directs CISA to develop and oversee 
implementation of regulations requiring covered entities to submit to 
CISA reports detailing covered cyber incidents and ransom payments. 
CIRCIA requires CISA to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) 
within 24 months of the date of enactment of CIRCIA as part of the 
process for developing these regulations. CISA is interested in 
receiving public input on potential aspects of the proposed regulation 
prior to publication of the NPRM and is issuing this RFI as a means to 
receive that input. While CISA welcomes input on other aspects of 
CIRCIA's regulatory requirements, CISA is particularly interested in 
input on definitions for and interpretations of the terminology to be 
used in the proposed regulations; the form, manner, content, and 
procedures for submission of reports required under CIRCIA; information 
regarding other incident reporting requirements including the 
requirement to report a description of the vulnerabilities exploited; 
and other policies and procedures, such as enforcement procedures and 
information protection policies, that will be required for 
implementation of the regulations.

DATES: Written comments are requested on or before November 14, 2022. 
Submissions received after that date may not be considered.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket ID: CISA-2022-
0010, through the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions contained therein and 
below for submitting comments. Please note that this RFI period is not 
rulemaking, and the Federal Rulemaking Portal is being utilized only as 
a mechanism for receiving comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Klessman, Cyber Incident 
Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA) Rulemaking 
Team Lead, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, 
[email protected], 202-964-6869.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

[[Page 55834]]

I. Public Participation

    Interested persons are invited to comment on this notice by 
submitting written data, views, or arguments using the method 
identified in the ADDRESSES section. All members of the public, 
including but not limited to specialists in the field, academic 
experts, industry, public interest groups, and those with relevant 
economic expertise, are invited to comment.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
Docket ID for this notice. Comments may be submitted electronically via 
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. To submit comments electronically:
    1. Go to www.regulations.gov and enter CISA-2022-0010 in the search 
field,
    2. Click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, 
and
    3. Enter or attach your comments.
    All submissions, including attachments and other supporting 
materials, will become part of the public record and may be subject to 
public disclosure. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 
(CISA) reserves the right to publish relevant comments publicly, 
unedited and in their entirety. Personal information, such as account 
numbers or Social Security numbers, or names of other individuals, 
should not be included. Do not submit confidential business information 
or otherwise sensitive or protected information. All comments received 
will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov. Commenters are encouraged 
to identify the number of the specific topic or topics that they are 
addressing.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for the 
Docket ID.

II. Background

    The growing number of cyber incidents, including ransomware 
attacks, is one of the most serious economic and national security 
threats our nation faces. From the theft of private, financial, or 
other sensitive data, to cyber-attacks that damage computer networks or 
facilitate the manipulation of operational or other control systems, 
cyber incidents are capable of causing significant, lasting harm.
    Reporting cyber incidents and ransom payments to the government has 
many benefits. An organization that is a victim of a cyber incident, 
including those that result in ransom payments, can receive assistance 
from government agencies that are prepared to investigate the incident, 
mitigate its consequences, and help prevent future incidents through 
analysis and sharing of cyber threat information. CISA and our federal 
law enforcement partners have highly trained investigators who 
specialize in responding to cyber incidents for the express purpose of 
disrupting threat actors who caused the incident, and providing 
technical assistance to protect assets, mitigate vulnerabilities, and 
offer on-scene response personnel to aid in incident recovery. When 
supporting affected entities, the various agencies of the Federal 
Government work in tandem to leverage their collective response 
expertise, apply their knowledge of cyber threats, preserve key 
evidence, and use their combined authorities and capabilities both to 
minimize asset vulnerability and bring malicious actors to justice. 
Timely reporting of incidents also allows CISA to share information 
about indicators of compromise, tactics, techniques, procedures, and 
best practices to reduce the risk of a cyber incident propagating 
within and across sectors.
    Recognizing the importance of cyber incident and ransom payment 
reporting, in March 2022, Congress passed and President Biden signed 
the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 
(CIRCIA), Public Law 117-103, Div. Y (2022) (to be codified at 6 U.S.C. 
681-681g). Enactment of CIRCIA marks an important milestone in 
improving America's cybersecurity by, among other things, requiring 
CISA to develop and implement regulations requiring covered entities to 
report covered cyber incidents and ransom payments to CISA. These 
reports will allow CISA, in conjunction with other federal partners, to 
rapidly deploy resources and render assistance to victims suffering 
attacks, analyze incoming reporting across sectors to spot trends and 
understand how malicious cyber actors are perpetrating their attacks, 
and quickly share that information with network defenders to warn other 
potential victims.
    Some of these new authorities are regulatory in nature and require 
CISA to complete rulemaking activities before the reporting 
requirements go into effect. CIRCIA requires that CISA develop and 
publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which will be open to 
public comment, and a Final Rule. CIRCIA also mandates that CISA 
consult with various entities, including Sector Risk Management 
Agencies, the Department of Justice, and the DHS-chaired Cyber Incident 
Reporting Council, throughout the rulemaking process. CISA is working 
to complete these activities within the statutorily mandated 
timeframes. In addition to the consultations required by CIRCIA, CISA 
is interested in receiving input from the public on the best approaches 
to implementing various aspects of this new regulatory authority.

III. Request for Input

A. Importance of Public Feedback

    CISA is committed to obtaining public input in the development of 
its approach to implementation of the cyber incident and ransom payment 
reporting requirements of CIRCIA. Owners and operators of entities in 
critical infrastructure sectors will have particularly useful 
information, data, and perspectives on the different approaches to 
reporting requirements given the potential impact that these 
requirements may have on their organizations and industries. 
Accordingly, CISA is seeking specific public feedback to inform its 
proposed regulations to implement CIRCIA's regulatory requirements. All 
members of the public, including but not limited to specialists in the 
field, academic experts, industry, public interest groups, and those 
with relevant economic expertise, are invited to comment.
    This notice contains a list of topics on which CISA believes inputs 
would be particularly useful in developing a balanced approach to 
implementation of the regulatory authorities Congress assigned to CISA 
under CIRCIA. CISA encourages public comment on these topics and any 
other topics commenters believe may be useful to CISA in the 
development of regulations implementing the CIRCIA authorities. The 
type of feedback that is most useful to the agency will identify 
specific approaches the agency may want to consider and provide 
information supporting why the approach would foster a cost-effective 
and balanced approach to cyber incident and ransom payment reporting 
requirements. Feedback that contains specific information, data, or 
recommendations is more useful to CISA than generic feedback that omits 
these components. For comments that contain any numerical estimates, 
CISA encourages the commenter to provide any assumptions made in 
calculating the numerical estimates.

B. List of Topics for Commenters

    The below non-exhaustive list of topics is meant to assist members 
of the public in the formulation of comments

[[Page 55835]]

and is not intended to restrict the issues that commenters may address:
(1) Definitions, Criteria, and Scope of Regulatory Coverage
    a. The meaning of ``covered entity,'' consistent with the 
definition provided in section 2240(5) of the Homeland Security Act of 
2002 (as amended), taking into consideration the factors listed in 
section 2242(c)(1).
    b. The number of entities, either overall or in a specific industry 
or sector, likely to be ``covered entities'' under the definition 
provided in section 2240(5) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (as 
amended), taking into consideration the factors listed in section 
2242(c)(1).
    c. The meaning of ``covered cyber incident,'' consistent with the 
definition provided in section 2240(4), taking into account the 
requirements, considerations, and exclusions in section 2242(c)(2)(A), 
(B), and (C), respectively. Additionally, the extent to which the 
definition of ``covered cyber incident'' under CIRCIA is similar to or 
different from the definition used to describe cyber incidents that 
must be reported under other existing federal regulatory programs.
    d. The number of covered cyber incidents likely to occur on an 
annual basis either in total or within a specific industry or sector.
    e. The meaning of ``substantial cyber incident.''
    f. The meaning of ``ransom payment'' and ``ransomware attack,'' 
consistent with the definitions provided in section 2240(13) and (14).
    g. The number of ransom payments likely to be made by covered 
entities on an annual basis.
    h. The meaning of ``supply chain compromise,'' consistent with the 
definition in section 2240(17).
    i. The criteria for determining if an entity is a multi-stakeholder 
organization that develops, implements, and enforces policies 
concerning the Domain Name System (as described in section 
2242(a)(5)(C)).
    j. Any other terms for which a definition, or clarification of the 
definition for the term contained in CIRCIA, would improve the 
regulations and proposed definitions for those terms, consistent with 
any definitions provided for those terms in CIRCIA.
(2) Report Contents and Submission Procedures
    a. How covered entities should submit reports on covered cyber 
incidents, the specific information that should be required to be 
included in the reports (taking into consideration the requirements in 
section 2242(c)(4)), any specific format or manner in which information 
should be submitted (taking into consideration the requirements in 
section 2242(c)(8)(A)), any specific information that should be 
included in reports to facilitate appropriate sharing of reports among 
federal partners, and any other aspects of the process, manner, form, 
content, or other items related to covered cyber incident reporting 
that would be beneficial for CISA to clarify in the regulations.
    b. What constitutes ``reasonable belief'' that a covered cyber 
incident has occurred, which would initiate the time for the 72-hour 
deadline for reporting covered cyber incidents under section 
2242(a)(1).
    c. How covered entities should submit reports on ransom payments, 
the specific information that should be required to be included in the 
reports (taking into consideration the requirements in section 
2242(c)(5)), any specific format or manner in which information should 
be submitted (taking into consideration the requirements in section 
2242(c)(8)(A)), and any other aspects of the process, manner, form, 
content, or other items related to ransom payments that would be 
beneficial for CISA to clarify in the regulations.
    e. When should the time for the 24-hour deadline for reporting 
ransom payments begin (i.e., when a ransom payment is considered to 
have been ``made'').
    f. How covered entities should submit supplemental reports, what 
specific information should be included in supplemental reports, any 
specific format or manner in which supplemental report information 
should be submitted, the criteria by which a covered entity determines 
``that the covered cyber incident at issue has concluded and has been 
fully mitigated and resolved,'' and any other aspects of the process, 
manner, form, content, or other items related to supplemental reports 
that would be beneficial for CISA to clarify in the regulations.
    g. The timing for submission of supplemental reports and what 
constitutes ``substantial new or different information,'' taking into 
account the considerations in section 2242(c)(7)(B) and (C).
    h. What CISA should consider when ``balanc[ing] the need for 
situational awareness with the ability of the covered entity to conduct 
cyber incident response and investigations'' when establishing 
deadlines and criteria for supplemental reports.
    i. Guidelines or procedures regarding the use of third-party 
submitters, consistent with section 2242(d).
    j. Covered entity information preservation requirements, such as 
the types of data to be preserved, how covered entities should be 
required to preserve information, how long information must be 
preserved, allowable uses of information preserved by covered entities, 
and any specific processes or procedures governing covered entity 
information preservation.
    k. To clarify or supplement the examples provided in section 
2242(d)(1), what constitutes a third-party entity who may submit a 
covered cyber incident report or ransom payment report on behalf of a 
covered entity.
    l. How a third party can meet its responsibility to advise an 
impacted covered entity of its ransom payment reporting 
responsibilities under section 2242(d)(4).
(3) Other Incident Reporting Requirements and Security Vulnerability 
Information Sharing
    a. Other existing or proposed federal or state regulations, 
directives, or similar policies that require reporting of cyber 
incidents or ransom payments, and any areas of actual, likely, or 
potential overlap, duplication, or conflict between those regulations, 
directives, or policies and CIRCIA's reporting requirements.
    b. What federal departments, agencies, commissions, or other 
federal entities receive reports of cyber incidents or ransom payments 
from critical infrastructure owners and operators.
    c. The amount it typically costs and time it takes, including 
personnel salary costs (with associated personnel titles if possible), 
to compile and report information about a cyber incident under existing 
reporting requirements or voluntary sharing, and the impact that the 
size or type of cyber incident may have on the estimated cost of 
reporting.
    d. The amount it costs per incident to use a third-party entity to 
submit a covered cyber incident report or ransom payment report on 
behalf of a covered entity.
    e. The amount it typically costs to retain data related to cyber 
incidents.
    f. Criteria or guidance CISA should use to determine if a report 
provided to another federal entity constitutes ``substantially similar 
reported information.''
    g. What constitutes a ``substantially similar timeframe'' for 
submission of a report to another federal entity.
    h. Principles governing the timing and manner in which information 
relating to security vulnerabilities may be shared, including any 
common industry best

[[Page 55836]]

practices and United States or international standards.
(4) Additional Policies, Procedures, and Requirements
    a. Policies, procedures, and requirements related to the 
enforcement of regulatory requirements, to include the issuance of 
requests for information, subpoenas, and civil actions consistent with 
section 2244.
    b. Information on protections for reporting entities under section 
2245.
    c. Any other policies, procedures, or requirements that it would 
benefit the regulated community for CISA to address in the proposed 
rule.
    CISA notes that this RFI is issued solely for information and 
program-planning purposes. Responses to this RFI do not bind CISA to 
any further actions.

Jennie M. Easterly,
Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
[FR Doc. 2022-19551 Filed 9-9-22; 8:45 am]
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