II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2699 

To establish a cybersecurity literacy campaign, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 10, 2021 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a cybersecurity literacy campaign, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Cybersecu5 rity Literacy Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of the Congress that the United States 

8 has a national security and economic interest in promoting 

9 cybersecurity literacy amongst the general public. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CYBERSECURITY LITERACY 

2 CAMPAIGN. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary for Com4 munications and Information (referred to in this section 

5 as the ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’) shall, in consultation with 

6 the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Secu7 rity Agency of the Department of Homeland Security, de8 velop and conduct a cybersecurity literacy campaign to in9 crease the knowledge and awareness of people in the 

10 United States of best practices to reduce cybersecurity 

11 risks. 

12 (b) CAMPAIGN.—To reduce cybersecurity risks, the 

13 Assistant Secretary shall— 

14 (1) identify the critical areas of an IT system 

15 that present cybersecurity risks and educate people 

16 in the United States on how to prevent and mitigate 

17 such attacks by— 

18 (A) instructing such people on how to iden19 tify— 

20 (i) phishing emails; and 

21 (ii) secure websites; 

22 (B) instructing such people on the need to 

23 change default passwords on hardware and soft24 ware technology; 

25 (C) encouraging the use of cybersecurity 

26 tools, including— 


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1 (i) multi-factor authentication; 

2 (ii) complex passwords; 

3 (iii) firewalls; and 

4 (iv) anti-virus software; 

5 (D) identifying the devices that could pose 

6 possible cybersecurity risks, including— 

7 (i) personal computers; 

8 (ii) smartphones; 

9 (iii) tablets; 

10 (iv) Wi-Fi routers; and 

11 (v) smart home appliances; 

12 (E) encouraging such people to— 

13 (i) regularly review mobile application 

14 permissions; 

15 (ii) decline privilege requests from mo16 bile applications that are unnecessary; 

17 (iii) download applications only from 

18 trusted vendors or sources; and 

19 (iv) connect internet of things or de20 vices to a separate and dedicated network; 

21 and 

22 (F) identifying the potential cybersecurity 

23 risks of using publicly available Wi-Fi networks 

24 and the methods a user may utilize to limit 

25 such risks; and 


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1 (2) direct people and businesses in the United 

2 States to Federal resources to help mitigate the cy3 bersecurity risks identified in this subsection. 

Æ 


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