Pierluigi Paganini August 01, 2019

MICROCHIPS Act (S. 2316) – Two US Senators have introduced a bill to protect US government supply chain against foreign sabotage and cyber espionage.

Two US senators have introduced legislation a bill, dubbed Manufacturing, Investment and Controls Review for Computer Hardware, Intellectual Property and Supply ACT (MICROCHIPS Act – S. 2316) that aims at protecting US government supply chain against foreign sabotage and cyber espionage. The bill is part of a national strategy to assess and prevent risks to critical US technologies.

“S.2316 – A bill to require a plan for strengthening the supply chain intelligence function, to establish a National Supply Chain Intelligence Center, and for other purposes.” reads the description for the MICROCHIPS Act.

The MICROCHIPS Act was introduced by Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia), both pointed out that Chinese cyber espionage activities threaten the technological growth of the United States.

Senators fear that the Chinese 5G technology used by the US could potentially harm the homeland security and expose sensitive information.

“Chinese companies export telecommunication technology equipment, software, hardware and services used in the United States, and hope to export fifth generation technology (5G) to the U.S. that could potentially harm and expose both consumer and U.S. military information.” senators said.

Crapo and Warner warned that the efforts of the US government in increasing cybersecurity are not enough to protect the country and American companies for from foreign nation-state hackers linked to China and Russia.

The MICROCHIPS Act would address China’s practice of four non-kinetic areas of warfare: Supply chain exploitation; cyber-physical attacks, cyberattacks; and unlawfully accessing sensitive information, the senators explained.

The legislation would require a congressional summary focused on the security for the supply chain along with a plan to enhance supply chain intelligence within six months. The bill also proposes the creation of a National Supply Chain Security Center and of course, an economic investment to implement security measures.

The bill:

“Directs the Director of National Intelligence, DOD and other relevant agencies to develop a plan to increase supply chain intelligence within 180 days”

“Establishes a National Supply Chain Security Center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to collect supply chain threat information and disseminate it to agencies with the authority to intervene; and Makes funds available under the Defense Production Act for federal supply chain security enhancements.”

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Supply Chain Security, MICROCHIPS Act)

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