Washington State Senate Passes Office Of Cybersecurity Bill

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – The Washington Senate has unanimously passed a measure that creates a state Office of Cybersecurity.

The bill, drafted in response to a security breach that exposed  personal information from around 1.6 million unemployment claims filed last year, passed the chamber on Wednesday.

It now heads to the House for consideration.

Under the proposed law, the office would set security policies and develop centralized protocols for managing the state’s information technology assets.

The measure would direct all state entities – institutions of higher education, the Legislature, the judiciary, and state agencies – to adopt programs that incorporate cybersecurity standards set by the office and to report any major cybersecurity incident within 24 hours.