I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1560 
To improve cybersecurity in the United States through enhanced sharing 
of information about cybersecurity threats, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 24, 2015 
Mr. NUNES (for himself, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. WESTMORELAND, and Mr. HIMES) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Select Committee 
on Intelligence (Permanent Select) 
A BILL 
To improve cybersecurity in the United States through en-
hanced sharing of information about cybersecurity 
threats, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Protecting Cyber Networks Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Sharing of cyber threat indicators and defensive measures by the Fed-
eral Government with non-Federal entities. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Mar 31, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6211
E:\BILLS\H1560.IH
H1560
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Sec. 3. Authorizations for preventing, detecting, analyzing, and mitigating cy-
bersecurity threats. 
Sec. 4. Sharing of cyber threat indicators and defensive measures with appro-
priate Federal entities other than the Department of Defense 
or the National Security Agency. 
Sec. 5. Federal Government liability for violations of privacy or civil liberties. 
Sec. 6. Protection from liability. 
Sec. 7. Oversight of Government activities. 
Sec. 8. Report on cybersecurity threats. 
Sec. 9. Construction and preemption. 
Sec. 10. Conforming amendments. 
Sec. 11. Definitions. 
SEC. 2. SHARING OF CYBER THREAT INDICATORS AND DE-
FENSIVE MEASURES BY THE FEDERAL GOV-
ERNMENT WITH NON-FEDERAL ENTITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the National Security 
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021 et seq.) is amended by in-
serting after section 110 (50 U.S.C. 3045) the following 
new section: 
‘‘SEC. 111. SHARING OF CYBER THREAT INDICATORS AND 
DEFENSIVE MEASURES BY THE FEDERAL 
GOVERNMENT WITH NON-FEDERAL ENTITIES. 
‘‘(a) SHARING BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with the protec-
tion of classified information, intelligence sources 
and methods, and privacy and civil liberties, the Di-
rector of National Intelligence, in consultation with 
the heads of the other appropriate Federal entities 
and the National Laboratories (as defined in section 
2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 
15801)), shall develop and promulgate procedures to 
facilitate and promote— 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Mar 31, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1560.IH
H1560
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
‘‘(A) the timely sharing of classified cyber 
threat indicators in the possession of the Fed-
eral Government with representatives of rel-
evant non-Federal entities with appropriate se-
curity clearances; 
‘‘(B) the timely sharing with relevant non- 
Federal entities of cyber threat indicators or in-
formation in the possession of the Federal Gov-
ernment that may be declassified and shared at 
an unclassified level; and 
‘‘(C) the sharing with non-Federal entities, 
if appropriate, of information in the possession 
of the Federal Government about imminent or 
ongoing cybersecurity threats to such entities to 
prevent or mitigate adverse impacts from such 
cybersecurity threats. 
‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT
OF
PROCEDURES.—The 
procedures developed and promulgated under para-
graph (1) shall— 
‘‘(A) ensure the Federal Government has 
and maintains the capability to share cyber 
threat indicators in real time consistent with 
the protection of classified information; 
‘‘(B) incorporate, to the greatest extent 
practicable, existing processes and existing roles 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Mar 31, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1560.IH
H1560
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
and responsibilities of Federal and non-Federal 
entities for information sharing by the Federal 
Government, including sector-specific informa-
tion sharing and analysis centers; 
‘‘(C) include procedures for notifying non- 
Federal entities that have received a cyber 
threat indicator from a Federal entity in ac-
cordance with this Act that is known or deter-
mined to be in error or in contravention of the 
requirements of this section, the Protecting 
Cyber Networks Act, or the amendments made 
by such Act or another provision of Federal law 
or policy of such error or contravention; 
‘‘(D) include requirements for Federal en-
tities receiving a cyber threat indicator or de-
fensive measure to implement appropriate secu-
rity controls to protect against unauthorized ac-
cess to, or acquisition of, such cyber threat in-
dicator or defensive measure; and 
‘‘(E) include procedures that require Fed-
eral entities, prior to the sharing of a cyber 
threat indicator, to— 
‘‘(i) review such cyber threat indicator 
to assess whether such cyber threat indi-
cator, in contravention of the requirement 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Mar 31, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1560.IH
H1560
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
under section 3(d)(2) of the Protecting 
Cyber Networks Act, contains any infor-
mation that such Federal entity knows at 
the time of sharing to be personal informa-
tion of, or information identifying, a spe-
cific person not directly related to a cyber-
security threat and remove such informa-
tion; or 
‘‘(ii) implement a technical capability 
configured to remove or exclude any per-
sonal information of, or information identi-
fying, a specific person not directly related 
to a cybersecurity threat. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘ap-
propriate Federal entities’, ‘cyber threat indicator’, ‘defen-
sive measure’, ‘Federal entity’, and ‘non-Federal entity’ 
have the meaning given such terms in section 11 of the 
Protecting Cyber Networks Act.’’. 
(b) SUBMITTAL TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Direc-
tor of National Intelligence, in consultation with the heads 
of the other appropriate Federal entities, shall submit to 
Congress the procedures required by section 111(a) of the 
National Security Act of 1947, as inserted by subsection 
(a) of this section. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Mar 31, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1560.IH
H1560
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 
of contents in the first section of the National Security 
Act of 1947 is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 110 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 111. Sharing of cyber threat indicators and defensive measures by the 
Federal Government with non-Federal entities.’’. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATIONS FOR PREVENTING, DETECTING, 
ANALYZING, AND MITIGATING CYBERSECU-
RITY THREATS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION FOR PRIVATE-SECTOR DEFEN-
SIVE MONITORING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, a private entity may, for a cyberse-
curity purpose, monitor— 
(A) an information system of such private 
entity; 
(B) an information system of a non-Fed-
eral entity or a Federal entity, upon the written 
authorization of such non-Federal entity or 
such Federal entity; and 
(C) information that is stored on, proc-
essed by, or transiting an information system 
monitored by the private entity under this para-
graph. 
(2) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub-
section shall be construed to— 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Mar 31, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1560.IH
H1560
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS