The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee began holding hearings on cybersecurity in the late 1990s, long before the Committee's jurisdiction expanded to cover homeland security.

In 2010, the 111st Congress, Chairman Lieberman, Ranking Member Collins, and Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Carper introduced S. 3480, the Protecting Cyber Space as a National Asset Act, to provide the government with a clear structure for securing its own networks and the networks that run our most critical infrastructure, for example, energy and water delivery systems, financial systems, nuclear and chemical, plants, and transportation networks. That bill passed out of Committee but was never debated on the Senate floor.

Last February, in the 112th Congress, Senators Lieberman, Collins, and Carper introduced The Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act, S.413, which was very similar to the Cyber Space as a National Asset legislation. Since other committees had related legislation, Majority Leader Reid directed all committees of jurisdiction to come together and produce a single bill. That bill is the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, S. 2105, which was introduced February 14, 2012, by Senators Lieberman, Collins, Rockefeller, and Feinstein.

The measure would protect federal civilian systems and the systems of the nation's most critical infrastructure, most ofs which is owned by the private sector. The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 is the result of months of negotiations with other Committees of jurisdiction; the energy, financial services, and chemical industries; national security and privacy and civil liberties groups; and a number of other government agencies. The Senate is expected to debate the measure in the coming weeks. Read letters of praise and support below.