U.S. House of Representatives Passes Bill to Allow Americans to Sue Foreign Cyber-Actors

The U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month passed a bill that would allow Americans to make claims in Federal or State courts if they are in any way affected by cyberattacks by foreign actors.

The bill is known as the Homeland and Cyber Threat Act (HACT act), a reintroduced version of a bill initially introduced in August 2019. This year the HACT act bill was reintroduced by Reps. Jack Bergman (MI-01), Colin Allred (TX-32), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03), Joe Neguse (CO-02), and Andy Kim (NJ-03).

In a statement by Rep. Colin Allred: “Cyberattacks against American citizens are only increasing, and Congress should give Americans the tools they need to fight back against foreign attacks. This legislation does just that by giving Americans the ability to hold foreign governments accountable for damage done by cyberattacks,”

The bill seeks to cover the unauthorized leak or use of information stolen by foreign actors and also provide material support for threat actors who engage in these activities.

The bill also seeks to eliminate the immunity of foreign officials, governments, states, and employees, in U.S courts, when Americans seek monetary damages against them, “for personal injury, harm to reputation, or damage to or loss of property,” per the bill.

Furthermore, the activities that the bill covers concerning cyberattacks include, unauthorized access to confidential electronic information stored in the country, a computer in the United States, as well as the use of malware or other harmful applications to infect computers in the United States.

Reference:https://www.securityweek.com/proposed-bill-would-allow-americans-sue-foreign-cyber-actors