Better Cybersecurity Needed, Reports Says

Press Release

President-elect Barack Obama should set up a new White House office to protect the nation against cyber attacks and restructure government agencies to better deal with the threat, said a new report released Monday.

The office would be headed by a cybersecurity czar who would report directly to the president.

The document followed a yearlong investigation by a task force of lawmakers and experts who studied the issue after a series of high-profile incidents of hackers breaking into federal computer systems.

Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and James Langevin, D-R.I., led the effort, teaming up with officials at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

The task force said that cybersecurity is on par with weapons of mass destruction or global jihad as a threat to the nation and should warrant a comprehensive federal response.

The group recommends using all the tools of U.S. power to lessen the threat, including international engagement and diplomacy, military planning, economic policy tools and the work of intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

McCaul said that cybersecurity poses many threats, including criminal theft of intellectual property as well as espionage.

"We found that there are massive intrusions into our federal networks all across the board, including the Pentagon, originating out of foreign countries," he said.

The task force also recommended modernizing laws about hacking and stealing government computer data. McCaul said many of the laws that govern such crimes were written in the 1950s and are inadequate.

"Mr. Obama understands the threat and wants to do something about it," McCaul said. "So I'm hopeful that these things will be taken to heart and not just put on a shelf somewhere, but really be implemented."

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