Lobbyists see opportunity in cybersecurity laws

The number of filings pressing Congress on cyber bills has tripled since 2010

Published March 21, 2013 3:50PM (EDT)

  (Shutterstock)
(Shutterstock)

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, lobbying firms are seeing vast opportunities in cybersecurity legislation efforts mounting in Congress. Online and tech leviathans including Google and Symantec have hired lobby groups to intervene on cyber bills and appropriations. "Companies want to discuss issues including what kind of impact government-issued security practices will have on corporate supply chains," said Avivah Litan, Washington-based cybersecurity analyst at technology research firm Gartner Inc. Via Businessweek:

There were 513 filings by consultants and companies to press Congress on cybersecurity by the end of 2012, up 85 percent from 2011 and almost three times as many as in 2010, according to U.S. Senate filings. Twelve firms have submitted new registrations this year on behalf of companies including Google Inc.  Motorola Mobility unit, Symantec Corp., United Parcel Service Inc. and Ericsson Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Stockholm-based Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson.

“Cybersecurity is a lobbyist’s dream,” Rogan Kersh, provost at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who researches political influence, said in an interview.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

MORE FROM Natasha Lennard


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Cispa Congress Cyberattacks Cybersecurity Google Lobbying