President Obama gave cybersecurity unprecedented attention in his State of the Union address this week, with cyber threats being discussed right along with terrorism and Ebola. He has urged private industry to work together with the government to prevent cybercrime and protect infrastructure that depends on secure networks. Last week the White House proposed the following legislation to protect companies and consumers against cyber threats.
- Encouraging companies to share cybersecurity information with the government while protecting privacy
- Modernizing law enforcement’s tools to fight cybercrime by criminalizing and increasing penalties for the sale and use of spyware for committing identity theft
- Establishing a national standard for companies to notify employees and customers about security breaches
Many privacy cybersecurity experts are not thrilled with Obama’s proposals, citing concerns about a far too passive plan and danger of exposing Americans’ private information. Discussions about cybersecurity will continue at a White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University on February 13th. The summit will bring together governmental leaders with consumer advocates, technical experts, and CEOs from private companies.
If we don’t put in place the kind of architecture that can prevent these attacks from taking place, this is not just going to be affecting movies, this is going to be affecting our entire economy in ways that are extraordinarily significant.
