U.S. House passes cyber-threat information bill

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a long-awaited bill by a vote of 307-116 on Wednesday that would make it easier for private companies to share information about cybersecurity threats with the government without fear of lawsuits.



The bill must be approved by the U.S. Senate before it can be sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law. A similar measure was passed by a 14-1 vote in the Senate Intelligence Committee, and supporters say they expect strong bipartisan support in the full Senate as well.



"At some point, we need to stop just hearing about cyberattacks that steal our most valuable trade secrets and our most private information, and actually do something to stop them," said Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee and one of the measure's principal authors.