National: New cyber panel chair zeros in on election security, SolarWinds hack | Maggie Miller/TheHill
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), the new chair of the House Homeland Security Committee’s cyber panel, said she plans to tackle a wide range of cybersecurity challenges, but with an early focus on bolstering election security and responding to a massive hack that has compromised much of the federal government. As one of the top cyber experts on Capitol Hill, Clarke’s committee will also have its plate full with figuring out how best to allocate resources to hospitals and schools increasingly targeted by hackers, and helping support the nation’s key cyber agency as it enters its third month without Senate-confirmed leadership. Clarke told The Hill in one of her first interviews as chair of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Innovation that the goal is to chart a course that keeps previous mistakes in the past. “We have to learn from our adverse experiences, and from learning should come innovation, should come a deep desire to make sure that we don’t revisit these types of hardships ever again,” said Clarke, who succeeds Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) atop the subcommittee. Clarke has served as both chair and ranking member of the panel in previous years. But this time around, she is taking the helm in the midst of an ongoing cybersecurity crisis stemming from the recently discovered Russian hack of IT group SolarWinds. The company counts much of the federal government as customers, with agencies including the Commerce, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security and Treasury departments compromised.
Full Article: New cyber panel chair zeros in on election security, SolarWinds hack | TheHill
