Title: American Cybersecurity Literacy Act of 2021
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
American Cybersecurity Literacy Act
This bill requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to develop and conduct a cybersecurity literacy campaign to increase knowledge and awareness of best practices to reduce cybersecurity risks.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2699 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

    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 ``American Cybersecurity Literacy 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the United States has a 
national security and economic interest in promoting cybersecurity 
literacy amongst the general public.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CYBERSECURITY LITERACY CAMPAIGN.

    (a) In General.--The Assistant Secretary for Communications and 
Information (referred to in this section as the ``Assistant 
Secretary'') shall, in consultation with the Director of the 
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of 
Homeland Security, develop and conduct a cybersecurity literacy 
campaign to increase the knowledge and awareness of people in the 
United States of best practices to reduce cybersecurity risks.
    (b) Campaign.--To reduce cybersecurity risks, the Assistant 
Secretary shall--
            (1) identify the critical areas of an IT system that 
        present cybersecurity risks and educate people in the United 
        States on how to prevent and mitigate such attacks by--
                    (A) instructing such people on how to identify--
                            (i) phishing emails; and
                            (ii) secure websites;
                    (B) instructing such people on the need to change 
                default passwords on hardware and software technology;
                    (C) encouraging the use of cybersecurity tools, 
                including--
                            (i) multi-factor authentication;
                            (ii) complex passwords;
                            (iii) firewalls; and
                            (iv) anti-virus software;
                    (D) identifying the devices that could pose 
                possible cybersecurity risks, including--
                            (i) personal computers;
                            (ii) smartphones;
                            (iii) tablets;
                            (iv) Wi-Fi routers; and
                            (v) smart home appliances;
                    (E) encouraging such people to--
                            (i) regularly review mobile application 
                        permissions;
                            (ii) decline privilege requests from mobile 
                        applications that are unnecessary;
                            (iii) download applications only from 
                        trusted vendors or sources; and
                            (iv) connect internet of things or devices 
                        to a separate and dedicated network; and
                    (F) identifying the potential cybersecurity risks 
                of using publicly available Wi-Fi networks and the 
                methods a user may utilize to limit such risks; and
            (2) direct people and businesses in the United States to 
        Federal resources to help mitigate the cybersecurity risks 
        identified in this subsection.
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