Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney's Opening Statement [PDF]

Washington D.C. (January 7, 2022)—On January 11, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. ET, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, will hold a remote hearing to examine strategies to strengthen the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), which establishes the roles and responsibilities of federal agencies related to the security of federal information systems and data and requires compliance with cybersecurity standards.

The onslaught of devastating cyberattacks against the federal government, as well as state and local governments and the private sector, is shining a spotlight on the need to improve FISMA, which has not been updated since 2014.  According to an OMB report, federal agencies reported 30,819 cybersecurity incidents in Fiscal Year 2020 alone.  The United States has also faced a string of major cyber incidents, including the unprecedented SolarWinds cyberattack that compromised at least nine federal agencies and 100 contractors.

In response to these threats and attacks, the hearing will examine the urgent need to reform FISMA and create a clear, coordinated, whole-of-government approach to federal cybersecurity to meet the challenges of this new and constantly evolving cyber frontier.

The Committee will also consider draft legislation to reform FISMA to ensure federal agencies can better prepare for and respond to the cyber threats they face.