The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) is a U.S. law that requires federal agencies to seek approval, usually through the Office of Management and Budget, before collecting information from the public or regulated organizations. An information collection can include reporting forms, assessment templates, recordkeeping rules, or any request that standardizes what companies must submit or retain.
In cyber security, the PRA matters because many security obligations begin as reporting or documentation requirements. A PRA review can shape incident logs, risk assessments, asset inventories, and compliance evidence for critical infrastructure operators. For defenders, that means governance and recordkeeping may become as important as technical controls. For attackers, formal reporting structures can reveal what data organizations must preserve, how incidents are classified, and which processes are audited. When agencies revise a PRA-backed request, it can signal tighter expectations for how regulated entities prove cyber readiness, even before any new enforcement arrives.