National Cyber Strategy Presses Liability Issues

One of the five pillars of the new National Cybersecurity Strategy is to “shape market forces to drive security and resilience,” which includes as one of its strategic objectives to “shift liability for insecure software products and services.” In a commentary for Washington Technology, Rik Ferguson of Forescout argues that moving the burden from software customers to software vendors has “potential pitfalls that must be very carefully considered.” He notes that most software licenses include an explicit disclaimer of any such liability, which may require legislation to invalidate.