President of the United States of America has expressed his concern regarding national cybersecurity for the Wall Street Journal. In his message “Taking the Cyberattack Threat Seriously” Barack Obama said that foreign governments, crime syndicates and individual hackers probe national computer security on the daily basis.
In order to defend the country’s critical infrastructure US government and private sector need to establish tight communication and share information about possible threats.
Obama rehearsed potential consequences of successful cyberattacks. In case of a war conflict the US enemies who are not able to win on an open battlefield might try their luck in cyberspace and unplug critical facilities, shut down national bank system or deprive part of the population of clean water. Such scenarios can cause an emergency situation and harm the economy. "This is the future we have to avoid," he said, urging the US legislators to pass new cybersecurity act.
“We need to make it easier for the government to share threat information so critical-infrastructure companies are better prepared. We need to make it easier for these companies—with reasonable liability protection—to share data and information with government when they're attacked. And we need to make it easier for government, if asked, to help these companies prevent and recover from attacks” – explained Barack Obama his idea of elimination of the threat.
White House leader encouraged the Senate to pass Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and Congress to send comprehensive legislation so he could sign it into a law.
Barack Obama statement is accessible here.
