Provisions such as the one focused on building a better cybersecurity workforce, and the one allowing private sector executives to access classified threat data are very important, Kellerman said.

So too are provisions that require regular threat and preparedness assessments by government and critical infrastructure organizations and the increased collaboration that is required between the government and private sector.

"I like the bill. They've done a lot of work to meet people half way," said James Lewis, director and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The attention to human capital is great." Keynote:

Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld . Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed . His e-mail address is jvijayan@computerworld.com .

in Computerworld's Cybercrime and Hacking Knowledge Center.