Gov. Inslee signs bill to protect Washingtonians from cyber-attacks, ransomware

Governor Inslee signed a bill to protect Washingtonians from cyber-attacks and ransomware, on Friday, announced bill sponsor Senator Matt Boehnke in a news release.

Senate Bill 5518 establishes the Cybersecurity Advisory Committee as a subcommittee of the Emergency Management Council. It also creates a Technology Services Board Security subcommittee and expands the Department of Commerce’s authority to invest in planning for cybersecurity threats.

“Cybersecurity is a challenging problem that will require a serious, committed, consistent, flexible, and proactive approach, now and in the years to come,” said Sen. Boehnke. “This new law is about starting the process of integrating cybersecurity into our emergency processes the same way we do with floods, fires, and other emergencies across the state. We have to look at our infrastructure, look at how we would respond, what are those contingency plans – how do we close the gaps within our agency plans.”

The law will go into effect on July 23.

“By passing this bill with such broad bipartisan support, and the governor signing it so quickly, we send the message that we as a state are committed to fighting these attacks and becoming resilient to them. By working through our technology service groups to coordinate our prevention and response efforts, and fill those gaps that leave us vulnerable, we will better protect the privacy of our citizens, the infrastructure of our economy, and the security of our technology.”

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