Monday, September 08, 2014

Securities Industry Backs Senate Bill Incentivizing Cyber Sharing

The securities industry strongly supports a Senate bill that would provide a federal tax incentive to businesses and firms that share cyber information. In a statement, SIFMA said that the Cyber Information Sharing Tax Credit Act (S. 2717 ), introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), would address critical cyber security vulnerabilities and incentivize businesses of all sizes to join sector-specific information sharing organizations, known as Information Sharing and Analysis Centers, or ISACs. The bill would provide refundable tax credits for all costs associated with joining the ISACs. The refundable tax credit would cover personnel participation costs, product and service costs directly related to sharing information with the ISAC, as well as other costs reasonably associated with participation.

Senator Gillibrand said that membership in an ISAC will give a small business access to real-time alerts about ongoing cyber threats to their systems, or newly discovered vulnerabilities in their networks that hackers might exploit, along with technical advice on how to protect against these attacks and eliminate their vulnerabilities..

Noting that Cybersecurity is increasingly a major threat to national security and the U.S. financial system, SIFMA said that these information sharing forums, such as the Financial Services ISAC, are critical to the collective cyber defense effort as they enable the industry and government to share threat information and coordinate response protocols.