6 U.S.C. § 681d — Noncompliance with required reporting
submitted 4 years ago by Pub. L. 107-296 to r/title-6-DOMESTIC-SECURITY · 946 words · no verdicts yet
If a covered entity fails to report, the Director may first request information and then issue a subpoena. The section provides enforcement, possible referral for regulatory or criminal action, limits the authority for subpoenas, and requires public annual counts.
(a) Purpose. If a covered entity* required to report under section 681b(a) does not report, the Director* may ask it directly for information about the incident* or payment. If that does not work, the Director may subpoena enough information to determine whether one occurred. (b)(1) If public reporting or other Federal information gives the Director reason to believe the entity had a covered incident or paid ransom but failed to report, the Director may request more information to confirm whether it occurred. (2) Information provided in response is treated as if reported under section 681b, including receiving section 681e’s protections. (c)(1) If 72 hours pass after the request with no response or an inadequate response, the Director may subpoena information needed to determine whether the incident or payment occurred, obtain information required by section 681b and its rules, and assess national-security, economic-security, or public-health and safety effects. (2)(A) If the entity disobeys, the Director may refer the matter to the Attorney General for a civil enforcement action in a United States district court. (B) The case may be filed where the entity resides, is found, or does business. (C) The court may punish disobedience as contempt. (3) The Director may not delegate subpoena authority. (4) An electronic subpoena must have the Agency* representative’s cryptographic signature or comparable technology proving its source and unchanged status; without authentication it is invalid to the recipient. (d)(1) Despite section 681e(a)(5) and subsection (b)(2), if subpoena information may support regulatory enforcement or criminal prosecution, the Director may give it to the Attorney General or proper Federal regulator, who may use it for that action. (2) The Director may consult them before deciding. (e) The Director must consider the difficulty of deciding whether a covered incident occurred and the entity’s prior interaction with the Agency or awareness of its reporting policies. (f) This section does not apply to State*, local, Tribal, or territorial governments. (g) The Director must annually report to Congress how many initial requests, subpoenas, and civil-action referrals were made. (h) The Director must publish a version on the Agency website showing at least the number of initial requests and subpoenas. (i) Published reports must anonymize victim information.
In the event that a covered entity* that is required to submit a report under section 681b(a) of this title fails to comply with the requirement to report, the Director* may obtain information about the cyber incident* or ransom payment* by engaging the covered entity directly to request information about the cyber incident* or ransom payment, and if the Director is unable to obtain information through such engagement, by issuing a subpoena to the covered entity, pursuant to subsection (c), to gather information sufficient to determine whether a covered cyber incident* or ransom payment has occurred.
If the Director has reason to believe, whether through public reporting or other information in the possession of the Federal Government, including through analysis performed pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of section 681a(a) of this title, that a covered entity has experienced a covered cyber incident or made a ransom payment but failed to report such cyber incident or payment to the Agency* in accordance with section 681b(a) of this title, the Director may request additional information from the covered entity to confirm whether or not a covered cyber incident or ransom payment has occurred.
Information provided to the Agency in response to a request under paragraph (1) shall be treated as if it was submitted through the reporting procedures established in section 681b of this title1 including that section 681e of this title shall apply to such information in the same manner and to the same extent to information submitted in response to requests under paragraph (1) as it applies to information submitted under section 681b of this title.
If, after the date that is 72 hours from the date on which the Director made the request for information in subsection (b), the Director has received no response from the covered entity from which such information was requested, or received an inadequate response, the Director may issue to such covered entity a subpoena to compel disclosure of information the Director deems necessary to determine whether a covered cyber incident or ransom payment has occurred and obtain the information required to be reported pursuant to section 681b of this title and any implementing regulations, and assess potential impacts to national security, economic security, or public health and safety.
If a covered entity fails to comply with a subpoena, the Director may refer the matter to the Attorney General to bring a civil action in a district court of the United States to enforce such subpoena.
An action under this paragraph may be brought in the judicial district in which the covered entity against which the action is brought resides, is found, or does business.
A court may punish a failure to comply with a subpoena issued under this subsection as contempt of court.
The authority of the Director to issue a subpoena under this subsection may not be delegated.
Any subpoena issued electronically pursuant to this subsection shall be authenticated with a cryptographic digital signature of an authorized representative of the Agency, or other comparable successor technology, that allows the Agency to demonstrate that such subpoena was issued by the Agency and has not been altered or modified since such issuance.
Any subpoena issued electronically pursuant to this subsection that is not authenticated in accordance with subparagraph (A) shall not be considered to be valid by the recipient of such subpoena.
Notwithstanding section 681e(a)(5) of this title and paragraph (b)(2) of this section, if the Director determines, based on the information provided in response to a subpoena issued pursuant to subsection (c), that the facts relating to the cyber incident or ransom payment at issue may constitute grounds for a regulatory enforcement action or criminal prosecution, the Director may provide such information to the Attorney General or the head of the appropriate Federal regulatory agency, who may use such information for a regulatory enforcement action or criminal prosecution.
The Director may consult with the Attorney General or the head of the appropriate Federal regulatory agency when making the determination under paragraph (1).
When determining whether to exercise the authorities provided under this section, the Director shall take into consideration—
the complexity in determining if a covered cyber incident has occurred; and
prior interaction with the Agency or awareness of the covered entity of the policies and procedures of the Agency for reporting covered cyber incidents and ransom payments.
This section shall not apply to a State*, local, Tribal, or territorial government entity.
The Director shall submit to Congress an annual report on the number of times the Director—
issued an initial request for information pursuant to subsection (b);
issued a subpoena pursuant to subsection (c); or
referred a matter to the Attorney General for a civil action pursuant to subsection (c)(2).
The Director shall publish a version of the annual report required under subsection (g) on the website of the Agency, which shall include, at a minimum, the number of times the Director—
issued an initial request for information pursuant to subsection (b); or
issued a subpoena pursuant to subsection (c).
The Director shall ensure any victim information contained in a report required to be published under subsection (h) be anonymized before the report is published.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 107–296, title XXII, § 2244, as added Pub. L. 117–103, div. Y, § 103(a)(2), Mar. 15, 2022, 136 Stat. 1049; amended Pub. L. 117–263, div. G, title LXXI, § 7143(e)(2), Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 3664.)
- 2022Enacted · Pub. L. 107-296 · 136 Stat. 1049
- 2022Amended · Pub. L. 117-263 · 136 Stat. 3664
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 107-296 on 2022-03-15.
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