Cyber security for industries pushed by feds
BY ANNE FLAHERTY
Thursday, February 14, 2013
2/14/13 at 4:54 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Warning that American companies are the target of an intensive cyber-espionage campaign, President Barack Obama's top security officials on Wednesday said they are struggling to defend the nation from attacks on its private computer networks and called on Congress to pass legislation that would close regulatory gaps.
Obama signed an executive order earlier this week that relies heavily on participation from U.S. industry in creating new voluntary standards for protecting information. The order also expands the government's effort to share threat data with companies.
But lawmakers and cyber experts say that Obama's directive is missing what U.S. businesses need most: legal protection so they don't get sued if they acknowledge they've been hacked or share threat data with competitors. That can only come from Congress, which hasn't been able to agree on how to protect businesses and consumers alike.
"The government is often unaware of malicious activity targeting our critical infrastructure," said Gen. Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.
In Obama's speech Tuesday, he said America's enemies are "seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy."
Largely symbolic, the plan leaves several practical questions unanswered: Should a business be required to tell the government if it has been hacked and U.S. interests are at stake? Can a person sue her bank or water treatment facility if those companies don't take reasonable steps to protect her? If a private company's systems are breached, should the government swoop in to stop the attacks - and pick up the tab?
Under the president's new order, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has a year to finalize a package of voluntary standards and procedures that will help companies address their cybersecurity risks. The package must include flexible, performance-based and cost-effective steps that critical infrastructure companies can take to identify the risks to their networks and systems and ways they can manage those risks.
Original Print Headline: Feds say cyber attacks rising
