Industry Officials Talk Govt’s Reluctance to Share Cyber Threat Data at House Panel Hearing

Industry officials told lawmakers at a House Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity panel hearing Thursday that that U.S. government is hesitant to facilitate cyber threat data sharing with stakeholders in the private sector, Nextgov reported Thursday.

Scott Montgomery, a vice president at Intel Security, told House committee members that U.S. government investigators’ reluctance to share threat data on the Iran government-related cyber breach at the U.S. Navy may have put companies at risk for similar threats, Joseph Marks wrote.

“By classifying the event, what we’re doing is restricting the number of people who can lend assistance and also allowing the adversary to operate with impunity,” Montgomery said.

“If we can release this information sooner, we’re actually affecting not only government, but private-sector organizations that [are vulnerable to] this same very, very common very low-hanging fruit attack.”

Ryan Gillis, a vice president at Palo Alto Networks; and Daniel Nutkis, CEO of nonprofit cybersecurity organization HITRUST Alliance; also testified before the House panel, the report added.