Short-term extension of expiring cyber information-sharing law could be on the table

With time running short before expiration of a cyber information-sharing law highly valued by the private sector, Congress is taking a look at the possibility of a short-term extension.

The 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which provided legal safeguards for companies to share threat data, is due to sunset at the end of September, and Congress doesn’t tend to work much in August.

A bipartisan pair of senators have introduced a bill to simply extend it for another 10 years. But a House bill is still in the works and might take a different approach that involves making changes to the law going forward, industry officials told CyberScoop on Wednesday. Getting competing proposals through both chambers, then settling differences and finalizing a bill to get to the president’s desk, could take significant time.