Parliament wants more security for digital data

On Tuesday, the National Council approved a template submitted by the Security Policy Committee of the Council of States (SIK-S) for new legal bases for the more secure storage of Switzerland’s most important digital data. The proposal was already unchallenged in the Council of States.

The Security Policy Committee of the National Council (SIK-N) has unanimously requested in advance to accept the motion.

The state government should, among other things, set criteria to determine which data from the federal government, the cantons, the municipalities and the operators of critical infrastructure deserve particular protection. The Federal Council should also determine which standards apply to the management of the security of this data.

In its statement, the SIK-N welcomed the fact that the motion proposes to involve critical infrastructure operators, cantons and possibly also municipalities in the definition of the criteria used to determine which level of protection applies to which data type. It must also be ensured that companies subject to various compliance rules are not hindered in their activities by the implementation of the motion.

According to the SIK-S, the design of the storage infrastructure should be entrusted to Swiss companies if possible. Swiss universities should also be involved. The Federal Council also requested acceptance of the motion. However, there is still a need to clarify for which authorities and operators of critical infrastructure the federal government has the constitutional authority to issue the requirements.

Over the past year, several federal authorities have fallen victim to hacker attacks. On May 23, it was announced that hackers had attacked a vulnerability on the servers of IT service provider Xplain with ransomware and stolen government data there. The data was then published on the dark web.

(jam/sda)