Bill OK’D to curb Internet threat

Cybersecurity measure targets electronic attacks.

WASHINGTON — The House ignored Obama administration objections Thursday and approved legislation aimed at helping stop electronic attacks on U.S. infrastructure and private companies.

On a bipartisan vote of 248-168, the House backed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which would encourage companies and the government to share information collected on the Internet to prevent attacks from cybercriminals, foreign governments and terrorists.

“This is the last bastion of things we need to do to protect this country,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said after more than five hours of debate.

Proponents cast the bill as an initial step to deal with an evolving threat of the Internet age. The information sharing would be voluntary to avoid imposing new regulations on businesses, an imperative for Republicans.

The legislation would allow the government to relay cyberthreat information to a company to prevent attacks from Russia or China.

In the private sector, corporations could alert the government and provide data that could stop an attack intended to disrupt the country’s water supply or take down the banking system.

President Barack Obama has threatened a veto of the House bill, preferring a Senate measure that would give the Homeland Security Department the primary role in overseeing domestic cybersecurity and setting security standards. The Senate bill is stalled.