IIB 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2685 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 2, 2021 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to submit to Congress a report 

examining the cybersecurity of mobile service networks, 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Understanding Cyber3 security of Mobile Networks Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REPORT ON CYBERSECURITY OF MOBILE SERVICE 

5 NETWORKS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, 

8 in consultation with the Department of Homeland Secu9 rity, shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Com10 merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

11 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

12 a report examining the cybersecurity of mobile service net13 works and the vulnerability of such networks and mobile 

14 devices to cyberattacks and surveillance conducted by ad15 versaries. 

16 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re17 quired by subsection (a) shall include the following: 

18 (1) An assessment of the degree to which pro19 viders of mobile service have addressed, are address20 ing, or have not addressed cybersecurity 

21 vulnerabilities (including vulnerabilities the exploi22 tation of which could lead to surveillance conducted 

23 by adversaries) identified by academic and inde24 pendent researchers, multistakeholder standards and 

25 technical organizations, industry experts, and Fed26 eral agencies, including in relevant reports of— 


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1 (A) the National Telecommunications and 

2 Information Administration; 

3 (B) the National Institute of Standards 

4 and Technology; and 

5 (C) the Department of Homeland Security, 

6 including— 

7 (i) the Cybersecurity and Infrastruc8 ture Security Agency; and 

9 (ii) the Science and Technology Direc10 torate. 

11 (2) A discussion of— 

12 (A) the degree to which customers (includ13 ing consumers, companies, and government 

14 agencies) consider cybersecurity as a factor 

15 when considering the purchase of mobile service 

16 and mobile devices; and 

17 (B) the commercial availability of tools, 

18 frameworks, best practices, and other resources 

19 for enabling such customers to evaluate cyber20 security risk and price tradeoffs. 

21 (3) A discussion of the degree to which pro22 viders of mobile service have implemented cybersecu23 rity best practices and risk assessment frameworks. 

24 (4) An estimate and discussion of the preva25 lence and efficacy of encryption and authentication 


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1 algorithms and techniques used in each of the fol2 lowing: 

3 (A) Mobile service. 

4 (B) Mobile communications equipment or 

5 services. 

6 (C) Commonly used mobile phones and 

7 other mobile devices. 

8 (D) Commonly used mobile operating sys9 tems and communications software and applica10 tions. 

11 (5) A discussion of the barriers for providers of 

12 mobile service to adopt more efficacious encryption 

13 and authentication algorithms and techniques and to 

14 prohibit the use of older encryption and authentica15 tion algorithms and techniques with established 

16 vulnerabilities in mobile service, mobile communica17 tions equipment or services, and mobile phones and 

18 other mobile devices. 

19 (6) An estimate and discussion of the preva20 lence, usage, and availability of technologies that au21 thenticate legitimate mobile service and mobile com22 munications equipment or services to which mobile 

23 phones and other mobile devices are connected. 

24 (7) An estimate and discussion of the preva25 lence, costs, commercial availability, and usage by 


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1 adversaries in the United States of cell site simula2 tors (often known as international mobile subscriber 

3 identity-catchers) and other mobile service surveil4 lance and interception technologies. 

5 (c) CONSULTATION.—In preparing the report re6 quired by subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary shall, to 

7 the degree practicable, consult with— 

8 (1) the Federal Communications Commission; 

9 (2) the National Institute of Standards and 

10 Technology; 

11 (3) the intelligence community; 

12 (4) the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Secu13 rity Agency of the Department of Homeland Secu14 rity; 

15 (5) the Science and Technology Directorate of 

16 the Department of Homeland Security; 

17 (6) academic and independent researchers with 

18 expertise in privacy, encryption, cybersecurity, and 

19 network threats; 

20 (7) participants in multistakeholder standards 

21 and technical organizations (including the 3rd Gen22 eration Partnership Project and the Internet Engi23 neering Task Force); 

24 (8) international stakeholders, in coordination 

25 with the Department of State as appropriate; 


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1 (9) providers of mobile service, including small 

2 providers (or the representatives of such providers) 

3 and rural providers (or the representatives of such 

4 providers); 

5 (10) manufacturers, operators, and providers of 

6 mobile communications equipment or services and 

7 mobile phones and other mobile devices; 

8 (11) developers of mobile operating systems and 

9 communications software and applications; and 

10 (12) other experts that the Assistant Secretary 

11 considers appropriate. 

12 (d) SCOPE OF REPORT.—The Assistant Secretary 

13 shall— 

14 (1) limit the report required by subsection (a) 

15 to mobile service networks; 

16 (2) exclude consideration of 5G protocols and 

17 networks in the report required by subsection (a); 

18 (3) limit the assessment required by subsection 

19 (b)(1) to vulnerabilities that have been shown to 

20 be— 

21 (A) exploited in non-laboratory settings; or 

22 (B) feasibly and practicably exploitable in 

23 real-world conditions; and 

24 (4) consider in the report required by sub25 section (a) vulnerabilities that have been effectively 


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1 mitigated by manufacturers of mobile phones and 

2 other mobile devices. 

3 (e) FORM OF REPORT.— 

4 (1) CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.—The report re5 quired by subsection (a) shall be produced in unclas6 sified form but may contain a classified annex. 

7 (2) POTENTIALLY EXPLOITABLE UNCLASSIFIED

8 INFORMATION.—The Assistant Secretary shall re9 dact potentially exploitable unclassified information 

10 from the report required by subsection (a) but shall 

11 provide an unredacted form of the report to the 

12 committees described in such subsection. 

13 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

14 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $500,000 for fiscal year 2022. Such amount is authorized 

16 to remain available through fiscal year 2023. 

17 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) ADVERSARY.—The term ‘‘adversary’’ in19 cludes— 

20 (A) any unauthorized hacker or other in21 truder into a mobile service network; and 

22 (B) any foreign government or foreign 

23 nongovernment person engaged in a long-term 

24 pattern or serious instances of conduct signifi25 cantly adverse to the national security of the 


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1 United States or security and safety of United 

2 States persons. 

3 (2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist4 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

5 Commerce for Communications and Information. 

6 (3) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part7 nership, association, trust, joint venture, corpora8 tion, group, subgroup, or other organization. 

9 (4) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

10 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 

11 that term in section 3 of the National Security Act 

12 of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 

13 (5) MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT OR

14 SERVICE.—The term ‘‘mobile communications equip15 ment or service’’ means any equipment or service 

16 that is essential to the provision of mobile service. 

17 (6) MOBILE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘mobile serv18 ice’’ means, to the extent provided to United States 

19 customers, either or both of the following services: 

20 (A) Commercial mobile service (as defined 

21 in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 

22 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d))). 

23 (B) Commercial mobile data service (as de24 fined in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax 


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1 Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 

2 1401)). 

3 (7) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in4 dividual or entity. 

5 (8) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

6 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

7 (A) an individual who is a United States 

8 citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for perma9 nent residence to the United States; 

10 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

11 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 

12 United States, including a foreign branch of 

13 such an entity; or 

14 (C) any person in the United States. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 1, 

2021. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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