Senate Passes Cybersecurity Bill That Provides Liability Shield To Companies That Share Information

On October 27, the United States Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act ("CISA") by a vote of 74-21.  CISA claims to improve cybersecurity by encouraging the sharing of threat information among companies and the U.S. Government. 

As previously reported here, CISA would permit private entities to share cyber threat indicators and defensive measures with other private entities and the federal government.  CISA would also offer certain protections from liability for companies that elect to voluntarily share information on cyberattacks and other cyberthreats among themselves and with the federal government.  Companies would also receive legal protections from antitrust actions for participating in the voluntary program.  The Senate bill also clarifies the measures that companies can take to identify and expel threats from their networks by enabling companies to avoid legal liability for monitoring information systems for cyberthreats and taking