State Rep. Matheney Applauds Creation of Cybersecurity Council

State. Rep. Mary Brigid Matheney, R-98, announced the passage of House Bill 331, creating the Cybersecurity, Education and Economic Development Council.

The council's purpose to study the state's cyber security operations and determined how they can be improved and how the cyber security industry's growth can be accelerated.

Matheney said the council will ensure greater safekeeping of personal identification information (PII) while helping develop a fast-growing area of employment. The safeguard was deemed necessary because governments maintain a large collection of PII, making them vulnerable to security attacks.

University of Cincinnati associate professor Richard Harknett told the Economic and Small Business Development Committee that education and business need to join to find cyberspace security solutions.

"We need to explore public policy solutions that can create incentives and norms that can produce two essential outcomes: help secure the digital infrastructure that is vital to our economic growth and help support new avenues for economic advancement via development of cybersecurity itself as a statewide employment sector," Harknett said.

HB 331 passed by a 97-0 vote and will be sent to the Senate for consideration. If approved, the council would have 12 members who would be appointed to serve two-year terms.