Condemning the cyber attacks on American persons and organizations conducting research related to COVID-19 and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that those responsible for perpetrating such belligerent acts should face consequences.

This resolution condemns the cyberattacks perpetrated against American persons and organizations engaged in COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) research. Further, it expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Administration should respond to such attacks using existing authorities to punish those responsible and dissuade future attacks.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1031 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1031

  Condemning the cyber attacks on American persons and organizations 
conducting research related to COVID-19 and expressing the sense of the 
 House of Representatives that those responsible for perpetrating such 
               belligerent acts should face consequences.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 2020

Mr. Kinzinger submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Condemning the cyber attacks on American persons and organizations 
conducting research related to COVID-19 and expressing the sense of the 
 House of Representatives that those responsible for perpetrating such 
               belligerent acts should face consequences.

Whereas the novel COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis that has killed over 
        128,000 American citizens;
Whereas American research institutions in both the public and private sectors 
        have been the target of attempted cyber network attacks while working 
        diligently to develop treatments and a cure for this disease;
Whereas health care, pharmaceutical, and research sectors working on COVID-19 
        response are the prime targets of these attacks;
Whereas, on May 13, 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the 
        Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a public 
        announcement to raise awareness of the cyber threat to COVID-19-related 
        research and that any potential theft of such research would jeopardize 
        the delivery of secure, effective, and efficient treatment options for 
        American citizens;
Whereas the FBI and CISA attributed the attacks on these American organizations 
        to the People's Republic of China (PRC);
Whereas the PRC has a long history of conducting cyber-attacks on Americans and 
        the United States Government, including the 2015 hack of the Office of 
        Personnel Management, which resulted in the theft of private information 
        belonging to millions of American citizens: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the House of Representatives condemns in the harshest 
        of terms the cyber-attacks perpetrated against those American 
        persons and organizations engaged in COVID-19 research; and
            (2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        the Administration should respond to these attacks to punish 
        those responsible and to dissuade others from engaging in the 
        same acts by utilizing existing authorities, including the 
        implementation of sanctions against those foreign persons 
        engaged in such acts at the behest of the PRC.
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