President Barack Obama asked Congress to pass tough new
legislation to combat what he called "the evolving threat of
cyber-attacks," warning the U.S. faces heightened risks if policy
makers don't act.
His call for congressional action is the latest reflection of
the federal government's beefed-up focus on the threat of
cyber-attacks following a large-scale theft and destruction of data
at Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., which White House officials
have blamed on North Korea.
"No foreign nation, no hacker, should be able to shut down our
networks, steal our trade secrets, or invade the privacy of
American families, especially our kids," Mr. Obama said in his
State of the Union speech. "We are making sure our government
integrates intelligence to combat cyber-threats, just as we have
done to combat terrorism."
The White House plans to host a cyber-attack summit with
government and business leaders at Stanford University next month,
and officials across a range of agencies are having internal
discussions on whether to rework the government's defenses against
attacks. Mr. Obama is also sending a special envoy to China in the
hopes of ramping up pressure on North Korea to halt what the White
House believes is a growing use of computer hacking.
Congress has tried, but so far failed, to pass an overhaul of
laws that govern cyber-theft. The issue has come into sharp focus
in recent months. The Twitter and YouTube accounts of U.S. Central
Command were also hacked last week, an embarrassment for the
military, though no classified information appears to have been
compromised.
There are limits to what the White House is seeking. Mr. Obama
has called for steeper penalties for people convicted of computer
hacking, but the White House hasn't specified how it might punish
foreign countries for stealing information, a growing concern
following the Sony breach.
A key stumbling block in the effort to toughen cyber-laws is a
concern among some U.S. companies that sharing information with the
government could expose them to shareholder lawsuits or a customer
exodus.
Companies have also complained that certain government agencies
are using surveillance to steal corporate and customer information.
Highlighting some of the privacy concerns, Mr. Obama said in the
speech that intelligence agencies have "worked hard" to "build more
safeguards against potential abuse."
It's unclear whether these White House overtures will persuade
companies to soften their opposition to previous
information-sharing proposals. White House officials haven't said
how more information sharing might have prevented the Sony
breach.
Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have signaled they plan to
act on some version of new laws to defend against cyber-attacks,
but deliberations are in early stages.
"My committee is currently working on cyber-security legislation
to remove any unnecessary legal barriers for the private sector to
share cyber-threat information," said House Homeland Security
Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas). He said he would
review the White House's proposal.
There is an active debate unfolding within the government, among
law enforcement, intelligence and military leaders, about how laws
to prevent cyber-attacks should be refashioned.
If officials can agree on a single approach, that could affect
the direction of congressional talks. So far, those discussions are
in early stages, though a National Security Agency official
recently called the Sony breach a "game changer." Responsibility
for dealing with cyber-crimes is now spread between multiple
federal agencies.
The number of "cyber-incidents," which the government classifies
as breaches of computer-security measures, has jumped in recent
years, hitting 228,700 in 2013, according to the Department of
Homeland Security.
Reflecting how this has become a top government concern, Mr.
Obama devoted more of his State of the Union speech to highlighting
the risk of cyber-attacks than in 2014, when he mentioned the risk
in passing as part of a broader discussion about foreign
policy.
Mr. Obama said that if Congress doesn't act, "we'll leave our
nation and our economy vulnerable. If we do, we can continue to
protect the technologies that have unleashed untold opportunities
for people around the globe."
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