
The Senate on Wednesday passed by unanimous consent a bill that codifies a round-the-clock cyber security watch center—the National Cybersecurity and Communications Center (NCCIC)—within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In addition to authorizing the cyber operations center, the National Cybersecurity Protection Act of 2014 (S. 2519) specifies the activities of the NCCIC, including serving as the “federal civilian interface” for sharing the information security risks, incidents and warnings with federal and non-federal entities, providing shared situational awareness to federal…