House passes several new bipartisan cybersecurity bills

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed four bills aimed at bolstering cybersecurity efforts, as cyber attacks continue to pose a persistent threat to national security. The legislation includes measures to secure networks from ransomware and cyberattacks, assist critical infrastructure owners with mitigation strategies, establish a national cyber exercise program, and improve detection and mitigation of threats to industrial control systems. The bills were among more than a dozen homeland security bills passed by the House this week. The healthcare industry, which has been particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks, has reported an above-average increase in breaches in recent months. The federal government has been taking steps to strengthen digital defenses in response to high-profile cyberattacks.