Title: Protecting Our Ability to Counter Hacking Act of 2017
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Protecting Our Ability to Counter Hacking Act of 2017 or the PATCH Act of 2017
This bill establishes the Vulnerability Equities Review Board to establish and make available to the public policies on matters relating to whether, when, how, to whom, and to what degree information about a vulnerability in a technology, product, system, service, or application that is not publicly known should be shared or released by the government to a non-federal entity. The board must submit to Congress and the President a draft of such policies, along with a description of challenges or impediments requiring legislative or administrative action.
Each federal agency shall, upon obtaining information about such a vulnerability, subject such information to a process established by the board for sharing or releasing the information. Process considerations shall include:
An agency may share or release such information to a non-federal entity without subjecting it to such process if the agency determines that the information is presumptively shareable or releasable.
If the board determines that such information should be shared with or released to the vendor that developed or maintains the technology, it shall provide the information to the Department of Homeland Security, which shall share or release the information as directed by the board.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2481 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2481

  To establish the Vulnerability Equities Review Board, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2017

Mr. Ted Lieu of California (for himself and Mr. Farenthold) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight 
                         and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish the Vulnerability Equities Review Board, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Our Ability to Counter 
Hacking Act of 2017'' or ``PATCH Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. VULNERABILITY EQUITIES REVIEW BOARD.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 551 of title 5, United 
        States Code.
            (2) Publicly known.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph 
                (B), the term ``publicly known'', with respect to 
                information regarding a vulnerability, means 
                information that--
                            (i) is--
                                    (I) a verbal or electronic 
                                presentation or discussion in a 
                                publicly accessible domain; or
                                    (II) in a paper or other published 
                                documentation in the public domain; and
                            (ii) that specifically discusses the 
                        vulnerability and how the vulnerability could 
                        be exploited.
                    (B) Classified material.--Information about a 
                vulnerability shall not be considered ``publicly 
                known'' if the information is currently protected as 
                classified and has been inappropriately released to the 
                public.
            (3) Vendor.--The term ``vendor'', with respect to a 
        technology, product, system, service, or application, means the 
        person who--
                    (A) developed the technology, product, system, 
                service, or application; or
                    (B) is responsible for maintaining the technology, 
                product, system, service, or application.
            (4) Vulnerability.--The term ``vulnerability'' means a 
        design, configuration, or implementation weakness in a 
        technology, product, system, service, or application that can 
        be exploited or triggered to cause unexpected or unintended 
        behavior.
    (b) Establishment.--There is established the Vulnerability Equities 
Review Board (in this section the ``Board'').
    (c) Membership.--
            (1) Permanent members.--The permanent members of the Board 
        consist of the following:
                    (A) The Secretary of Homeland Security, or the 
                designee of the Secretary, who shall be the chair of 
                the Board.
                    (B) The Director of the Federal Bureau of 
                Investigation, or the designee of the Director.
                    (C) The Director of National Intelligence, or the 
                designee of the Director.
                    (D) The Director of the Central Intelligence 
                Agency, or the designee of the Director.
                    (E) The Director of the National Security Agency, 
                or the designee of the Director.
                    (F) The Secretary of Commerce, or the designee of 
                the Secretary.
            (2) Ad hoc members.--The Board shall include as members, on 
        an ad hoc basis, the following:
                    (A) The Secretary of State, or the designee of the 
                Secretary, when the Board considers matters under the 
                jurisdiction of the secretary.
                    (B) The Secretary of the Treasury, or the designee 
                of the Secretary, when the Board considers matters 
                under the jurisdiction of the secretary.
                    (C) The Secretary of Energy, or the designee of the 
                Secretary, when the Board considers matters under the 
                jurisdiction of the secretary.
                    (D) The Federal Trade Commission, or the designee 
                of the Commission, when the Board considers matters 
                relating to the Commission.
            (3) Other participants.--Any member of the National 
        Security Council under section 101 of the National Security Act 
        of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021) who is not a permanent or ad hoc 
        member of the Board may, with the approval of the President, 
        participate in activities of the Board when requested by the 
        Board.
    (d) Duties.--
            (1) Policies.--
                    (A) In general.--The Board shall establish policies 
                on matters relating to whether, when, how, to whom, and 
                to what degree information about a vulnerability that 
                is not publicly known should be shared or released by 
                the Federal Government to a non-Federal entity.
                    (B) Availability to the public.--To the degree that 
                the policies established under subparagraph (A) are 
                unclassified, the Board shall make such policies 
                available to the public.
                    (C) Draft policies.--
                            (i) Submittal to congress.--
                                    (I) In general.--Not later than 180 
                                days after the date of the enactment of 
                                this Act, the Board shall submit to 
                                Congress and the President a draft of 
                                the policies required by subparagraph 
                                (A), along with a description of any 
                                challenges or impediments that may 
                                require legislative or administrative 
                                action.
                                    (II) Form.--The draft submitted 
                                under subclause (I) shall be in 
                                unclassified form, but may include a 
                                classified annex.
                            (ii) Publication.--Not later than 240 days 
                        after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
                        the Board shall make available to the public a 
                        draft of the policies required by subparagraph 
                        (A), to the degree that such policies are 
                        unclassified.
            (2) Requirement.--The head of each Federal agency shall, 
        upon obtaining information about a vulnerability that is not 
        publicly known, subject such information to the process 
        established under paragraph (3)(A).
            (3) Process.--
                    (A) In general.--The Board shall establish the 
                process by which the Board determines whether, when, 
                how, to whom, and to what degree the Federal Government 
                shares or releases information to a non-Federal entity 
                about a vulnerability that is not publicly known.
                    (B) Considerations.--The process established under 
                subparagraph (A) shall include, with respect to a 
                vulnerability, consideration of the following:
                            (i) Which technologies, products, systems, 
                        services, or applications are subject to the 
                        vulnerability, including whether the products 
                        or systems are used in core Internet 
                        infrastructure, in other critical 
                        infrastructure systems, in the United States 
                        economy, or in national security systems.
                            (ii) The potential risks of leaving the 
                        vulnerability unpatched or unmitigated.
                            (iii) The harm that could occur if an 
                        actor, such as an adversary of the United 
                        States or a criminal organization, were to 
                        obtain information about the vulnerability.
                            (iv) How likely it is that the Federal 
                        Government would know if someone external to 
                        the Federal Government were exploiting the 
                        vulnerability.
                            (v) The need of the Federal Government to 
                        exploit the vulnerability.
                            (vi) Whether the vulnerability is needed 
                        for a specific ongoing intelligence or national 
                        security operation.
                            (vii) If a Federal entity would like to 
                        exploit the vulnerability to obtain 
                        information, whether there are other means 
                        available to the Federal entity to obtain such 
                        information.
                            (viii) The likelihood that a non-Federal 
                        entity will discover the vulnerability.
                            (ix) The risks to foreign countries and the 
                        people of foreign countries of not sharing or 
                        releasing information about the vulnerability.
                            (x) Whether the vulnerability can be 
                        patched or otherwise mitigated.
                            (xi) Whether the affected non-Federal 
                        entity has a publicly disclosed policy for 
                        reporting and disclosing vulnerabilities.
            (4) Exclusion from process of vulnerabilities presumptively 
        shareable or releasable.--
                    (A) In general.--Under guidelines established by 
                the Board, a Federal agency may share or release 
                information to a non-Federal entity about a 
                vulnerability without subjecting such information to 
                the process under paragraph (3)(A) if the agency 
                determines that such information is presumptively 
                shareable or releasable. The guidelines shall specify 
                the standards to be used to determine whether or not 
                information is presumptively shareable or releasable 
                for purposes of this paragraph.
                    (B) Rule of construction.--Subparagraph (A) shall 
                not be construed to imply that information which is 
                determined under such subparagraph to be presumptively 
                shareable or releasable is exempt from the requirements 
                of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (5) or the sharing 
                process established under subparagraph (B) of such 
                paragraph.
            (5) Dissemination of information on vulnerabilities.--
                    (A) Sharing through secretary of homeland 
                security.--
                            (i) In general.--In any case in which the 
                        Board determines under paragraph (3)(A) that 
                        information about a vulnerability not otherwise 
                        publicly known should be shared with or 
                        released to an appropriate vendor, the Board 
                        shall provide the information to the Secretary 
                        of Homeland Security and the Secretary shall, 
                        on behalf of the Federal Government, share or 
                        release the information as directed by the 
                        Board.
                            (ii) Presumptively shareable or releasable 
                        information.--In any case in which a Federal 
                        agency determines under paragraph (4)(A) that 
                        information about a vulnerability is 
                        presumptively shareable or releasable, the 
                        Federal agency shall provide such information 
                        to the Secretary and the Secretary shall, on 
                        behalf of the Federal Government, share or 
                        release the information.
                    (B) Sharing process.--
                            (i) In general.--Not later than 180 days 
                        after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
                        the Secretary of Homeland Security, in 
                        coordination with the Secretary of Commerce, 
                        shall establish the process by which the 
                        Secretary of Homeland Security shares or 
                        releases information pursuant to subparagraph 
                        (A).
                            (ii) Use of voluntary consensus 
                        standards.--The Secretary shall ensure that--
                                    (I) any sharing or release of 
                                information under subparagraph (A) is 
                                made in accordance with voluntary 
                                consensus standards for disclosure of 
                                vulnerabilities; and
                                    (II) the process established under 
                                clause (i) is consistent with such 
                                standards.
                    (C) Information not determined to be shareable or 
                releasable.--
                            (i) In general.--The policies under 
                        paragraph (1) shall provide for--
                                    (I) the periodic review of 
                                vulnerabilities that are determined by 
                                the Board, pursuant to the process 
                                established under paragraph (3)(A), not 
                                to be shareable or releasable, in order 
                                to determine whether such 
                                vulnerabilities may be shared or 
                                released in a manner consistent with 
                                the national security interests of the 
                                United States; and
                                    (II) the sharing with or releasing 
                                to appropriate non-Federal entities of 
                                information about vulnerabilities that 
                                may be shared or released in a manner 
                                consistent with the national security 
                                interests of the United States 
                                following review under subclause (I).
                            (ii) In case of later becoming publicly 
                        known.--
                                    (I) In general.--In the case of a 
                                vulnerability that was not publicly 
                                known and determined not to be 
                                shareable or releasable pursuant to 
                                clause (i)(I) and then subsequently 
                                becomes publicly known, the 
                                vulnerability shall not be subject to 
                                the process established under paragraph 
                                (3)(A) and shall be subject to such 
                                other Federal procedures and inter-
                                agency operation processes as may be 
                                applicable, such as procedures and 
                                processes established to carry out the 
                                Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act 
                                of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
                                    (II) Applicability to classified 
                                material.--In this clause, subparagraph 
                                (B) of subsection (a)(2) shall not 
                                apply.
    (e) Compliance.--Each head of a Federal agency shall ensure that 
the agency complies with the policies issued by the Board under this 
section.
    (f) Oversight.--
            (1) Annual reports by board.--
                    (A) In general.--Not less frequently than once each 
                year, the Board shall submit to the appropriate 
                committees of Congress a report on the activities of 
                the Board and the policies issued under subsection (d).
                    (B) Contents.--In addition to information about the 
                activities and policies described in subparagraph (A), 
                the report required by such subparagraph shall also 
                include the following:
                            (i) The frequency of meetings held by the 
                        Board.
                            (ii) The aggregate number of 
                        vulnerabilities reviewed by the Board.
                            (iii) The number of vulnerabilities 
                        determined by the Board to be shareable or 
                        releasable.
                            (iv) The number of vulnerabilities 
                        determined by the Board not to be shareable or 
                        releasable.
                            (v) Such other matters as the Board 
                        considers appropriate.
                    (C) Availability to the public.--For each report 
                submitted under subparagraph (A), the Board shall make 
                an unclassified version of the report available to the 
                public.
            (2) Annual reports on activities of igs.--
                    (A) In general.--Not less frequently than once each 
                year, the Inspector General of the Department of 
                Homeland Security shall, in consultation with the 
                Inspectors General of other Federal agencies whose work 
                is affected by activities of the Board, submit to the 
                appropriate committees of Congress a report on the 
                activities of all such Inspectors General during the 
                preceding year in connection with the activities of the 
                Board, the policies issued under subsection (d), and 
                the sharing and releasing of information about 
                vulnerabilities pursuant to such policies.
                    (B) Availability to the public.--For each report 
                submitted under subparagraph (A), the Inspector General 
                of the Department of Homeland Security shall make an 
                unclassified version of the report available to the 
                public.
            (3) Form.--Each report under paragraphs (1) and (2) shall 
        be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
        annex.
            (4) Review by privacy and civil liberties oversight 
        board.--
                    (A) In general.--The Privacy and Civil Liberties 
                Oversight Board shall review each report submitted 
                under paragraph (1).
                    (B) Consultation.--The Vulnerability Equities 
                Review Board may consult with the Privacy and Civil 
                Liberties Oversight Board as the Vulnerability Equities 
                Review Board considers appropriate.
            (5) Appropriate committees of congress defined.--In this 
        subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Commerce, 
                Science, and Transportation, and the Select Committee 
                on Intelligence of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Homeland Security, the 
                Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the 
                Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the Permanent 
                Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
                Representatives.
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