U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., chairman of the Subcommittee on Science, Oceans, Fisheries, and Weather, today introduced the CYBER LEAP Act of 2020 to direct the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with relevant agencies, to establish grand challenges to achieve high-priority breakthroughs in cybersecurity.

“I am pleased to introduce the CYBER LEAP Act of 2020, which would foster innovation through cybersecurity competitions,” said Wicker. “These prize-based contests are designed to increase collaboration between the public and private sectors and academia in order to develop cutting-edge ideas in cybersecurity. This legislation would be instrumental in encouraging American ingenuity, and I am eager to see it advance.”

“We put our nation at risk if we don’t invest in our cybersecurity workforce and infrastructure,” said Rosen. “As our world becomes more digitized, I’m proud to help introduce this bill to assist our nation in developing a cybersecurity workforce with the skills needed to protect and maintain information systems and improve critical federal agencies’ security and safety. I will continue to support forward-thinking legislation that ensures our 21st century workforce is equipped with next generation communications technologies to keep our nation safe.”

“We need dynamic and ambitious solutions for cybersecurity, which is why I’m proud to partner with Chairman Wicker on the CYBER LEAP Act,” said Gardner. “This legislation would help foster innovation and collaboration as the public, private, and academic sectors work together to address the cybersecurity challenges of our time. We all must work together to protect our critical infrastructure and personal information.”

The CYBER LEAP Act of 2020 would:

• Based off the recommendations from the Cybersecurity Moonshot Initiative, establish cybersecurity grand challenges on improving the economics of a cyber attack, cybersecurity workforce, emerging technology, digital identity, and federal government cybersecurity.   
• Leverage open innovation authorities to hold a series of prize competitions.
• Allow funding for the challenges to be pooled from multiple federal agencies and non-federal entities.

For the full bill text, click here.