American Cybersecurity Literacy Act

IIB 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4055 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 2, 2021 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To establish a cybersecurity literacy campaign, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:07 Dec 03, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4055.RFS H4055 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 4055 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Cybersecu- 2 rity Literacy Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4 It is the sense of the Congress that the United States 5 has a national security and economic interest in promoting 6 cybersecurity literacy amongst the general public. 7 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CYBERSECURITY LITERACY 8 CAMPAIGN. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary shall de- 10 velop and conduct a cybersecurity literacy campaign 11 (which shall be available in multiple languages and for- 12 mats, if practicable) to increase the knowledge and aware- 13 ness of the American people of best practices to reduce 14 cybersecurity risks. 15 (b) CAMPAIGN.—To reduce cybersecurity risks, the 16 Assistant Secretary shall— 17 (1) educate the American people on how to pre- 18 vent and mitigate cyberattacks and cybersecurity 19 risks, including by— 20 (A) instructing the American people on 21 how to identify— 22 (i) phishing emails and messages; and 23 (ii) secure websites; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:07 Dec 03, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4055.RFS H4055 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 4055 RFS (B) instructing the American people about 1 the benefits of changing default passwords on 2 hardware and software technology; 3 (C) encouraging the use of cybersecurity 4 tools, including— 5 (i) multi-factor authentication; 6 (ii) complex passwords; 7 (iii) anti-virus software; 8 (iv) patching and updating software 9 and applications; and 10 (v) virtual private networks; 11 (D) identifying the devices that could pose 12 possible cybersecurity risks, including— 13 (i) personal computers; 14 (ii) smartphones; 15 (iii) tablets; 16 (iv) Wi-Fi routers; 17 (v) smart home appliances; 18 (vi) webcams; 19 (vii) internet-connected monitors; and 20 (viii) any other device that can be con- 21 nected to the internet, including mobile de- 22 vices other than smartphones and tablets; 23 (E) encouraging Americans to— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:07 Dec 03, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4055.RFS H4055 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 4055 RFS (i) regularly review mobile application 1 permissions; 2 (ii) decline privilege requests from mo- 3 bile applications that are unnecessary; 4 (iii) download applications only from 5 trusted vendors or sources; and 6 (iv) consider a product’s life cycle and 7 the developer or manufacturer’s commit- 8 ment to providing security updates during 9 a connected device’s expected period of use; 10 and 11 (F) identifying the potential cybersecurity 12 risks of using publicly available Wi-Fi networks 13 and the methods a user may utilize to limit 14 such risks; and 15 (2) encourage the American people to use re- 16 sources to help mitigate the cybersecurity risks iden- 17 tified in this subsection. 18 (c) ASSISTANT SECRETARY DEFINED.—In this sec- 19 tion, the term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the Assistant 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:07 Dec 03, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4055.RFS H4055 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 4055 RFS Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Informa- 1 tion. 2 Passed the House of Representatives December 1, 2021. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:07 Dec 03, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4055.RFS H4055 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS