US
President Barack Obama has made a fresh push for cybersecurity legislation. It
comes in the wake of highly publicized cyber attacks including on the US
Central Command's Twitter page, which was targeted this week.
Deutsche Welle, 13 Jan 2015
US
President Barack Obama renewed calls on Tuesday for cybersecurity legislation
and asked the new Congress to revive an initiative which had been stalled in
recent years.
The new
proposal would allow increased sharing of information on cyber threats from the
private sector with protection from liability.
It would
also be a criminal offence to sell stolen financial data and companies would
have to notify consumers about data breaches under the measures.
Speaking at
a White House meeting with congressional leaders, Obama said that recent events
had increased the need for tougher cybersecurity legislation.
"With
the Sony attack that took place, with the Twitter account that was hacked by Islamist jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show we need to do
much more work in the public and private sector to strengthen our cyber
security," the president said.
A White
House statement said the updated proposal "promotes better cybersecurity
information sharing between the private sector and government, and it enhances
collaboration and information sharing amongst the private sector."
Sense of
urgency over cybersecurity
Obama had
pressed for the legislation to be revised in order to allow the private sector
to share data on threats without fear of any adverse consequences from the
disclosures.
Earlier
efforts were stalled due to opposition from civil libertarians who feared the
measures could allow too much government interference. In turn, conservatives
argued they would create a new bureaucracy.
However,
concerns were further heightened by the hacking of Sony Pictures in December,
which the administration blamed on North Korea, and major data breaches
affecting retailers including Target and Home Depot.
We're back! CENTCOM temporarily suspended its Twitter account after an act of cybervandalism. Read more: http://t.co/hiwvSp3uWt
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 13, 2015
On Monday,
the US Central Command suspended its Twitter and Youtube pages after a group
declaring its support for "Islamic State" (IS) jihadists hacked its
social media accounts and posted internal documents.
However, it
seems to have been a temporary hitch as the department's Twitter account was up
and running once again on Tuesday:
Obama is
scheduled to comment on the legislative proposals later on Tuesday in a speech
at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in
Virginia.
The
proposals are also expected to be part of his State of the Union address on
January 20.
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