CybersecurityObama continues push for cybersecurity bill

Published 9 February 2015

Following his remarks on cybersecurity at the 2015 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama will attenda summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protectionat Stanford Universitythis Friday. Attendees will include major stakeholders in cybersecurity and consumer financial protection issues, including executives from the financial services, telecommunications, and retail industries, as well as law enforcement officials and consumer advocates. Obama has requested $14 billion for cybersecurity initiatives in the 2016 federal budget, a 10 percent increase from 2015 budget.

Following his remarks on cybersecurity at the 2015 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama will attend a summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University this Friday. Attendees will include major stakeholders in cybersecurity and consumer financial protection issues, including executives from the financial services, telecommunications, and retail industries, as well as law enforcement officials and consumer advocates.

As part of his Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, Obama has urged Congress to pass legislation meant to bolster the nation’s cyber defenses. Recently, he requested $14 billion for cybersecurity initiatives in the 2016 federal budget. The request, a 10 percent increase from 2015 budget, seeks $5.5 billion for the Pentagon’s cyber initiatives — a $400 million increase from 2015 budget. $587.5 million would be allocated to DHS for key cyber operations, including EINSTEIN, its civilian agency network-monitoring program, continuous monitoring services, and a “CyberSkills” initiative to support the DHS information security workforce. Defense One notes that those same three programs were budgeted at $526.3 million in fiscal 2015. A portion of DHS’s cyber funding would also help the agency respond to cyber intrusions in the private sector.

Some members of Congress have expressed support for a cybersecurity bill which would allow the flow of cyber-related information between the private and public sectors, but privacy activists are concerned that the personal information of U.S. consumers could be misused if shared with federal agencies.

Cnet reports that business groups support Obama’s proposed actions on cybersecurity. The Electronic Transactions Association, representing more than 500 payments and technology companies, is urging Congress to approve Obama’s cyber budget. “The president’s legislative proposal will reduce the number and severity of cyberattacks by allowing the industry access to actionable information about cybercriminals’ plans,” CEO Jason Oxman wrote in an emailed statement. “Increased information sharing about cyberthreats serves as an early warning system, thereby allowing the payments industry to further strengthen its defenses against specific cyberattacks.”

Both the federal government and the private sector have been victims of hackers. In early 2014 hackers gained access to files containing credit card information of millions of Target and Home Depot customers. Later that year, hackers working for North Korea hacked Sony Pictures. In January, hackers working on behalf of the Islamic State hackedTwitter and Youtube accounts belonging to the U.S. Central Command. Just last week Anthem health insurance company revealed it had suffered a cyber breach from hackers who stole the personal data of roughly eighty million people.

In this interconnected, digital world, there are going to be opportunities for hackers to engage in cyberassaults both in the private sector and the public sector,” Obama said in December. “Now, our first order of business is making sure that we do everything to harden sites and prevent those kinds of attacks from taking place.”