WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a new cybersecurity "national action plan" calling for an overhaul of aging government networks and a high-level commission to boost security awareness.
The announcement responds to an epidemic of data breaches and cyber attacks on both government and private networks in recent years, and passage last year of a cybersecurity bill that aims to facilitate better threat sharing.
Obama asked for $19 billion for cybersecurity efforts in his budget request, a 35 percent increase from current levels, with $3 billion earmarked to help modernize the patchwork of computer systems used in government agencies.
"It is no secret that too often government IT is like an Atari game in an Xbox world," Obama said in a column in the Wall Street Journal.
"The Social Security Administration uses systems and code from the 1960s. No successful business could operate this way. Going forward, we will require agencies to increase protections for their most valued information and make it easier for them to update their networks."
Obama said his plan would "address both short-term and long-term threats, with the goal of providing every American a basic level of online security."
The moves come after disclosures last year that personal data from some 20 million federal employees, contractors and others had been leaked in a massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management.
That followed news of attacks hitting health care networks, retailers and others affecting tens of millions more, and a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures.
"These cyberthreats are among the most urgent dangers to America's economic and national security," Obama said.
"That's why, over the past seven years, we have boosted cybersecurity in government -- including integrating and quickly sharing intelligence about cyberthreats -- so we can act on threats even faster."
Obama issued an executive order creating a 12-member cybersecurity commission to make recommendations to both the public and private sectors.
The panel is to issue a report to the president by December 1.
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