InfoBytes Blog
White House Provides Update on 2015 Cybersecurity Initiatives
On July 9, the White House released a fact sheet regarding the Administration’s 2015 cybersecurity efforts “both domestic and international, to improve our cyber defenses, enhance our response capabilities, and upgrade our incident management tools.” More specifically, these include (i) supporting the private sector; (ii) enhancing federal cybersecurity; (iii) developing new policies and capabilities to identify, defend against, and counter malicious cyber actors; and (iv) engaging internationally. Among the private sector achievements is new legislative proposals; the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland (DHS) opening offices in Silicon Valley; and the increase in information sharing between the private sector and government, including DHS’s initiative to develop an automated system for sharing cyber threat indicators. The federal achievements include continual cross-agency efforts to improve how the government conducts background investigations. The new policy achievements includes imposing financial sanctions on those participating in malicious cyber-enabled activities threatening national security, strengthening national defense, and creating new cybersecurity laws. Finally, the international accomplishments include the President’s efforts to bolster international commitments and law enforcement, and to strengthen the country’s global leadership role in cybersecurity.