WHITE HOUSE PREPARING SWEEPING EXECUTIVE ORDER ON CYBERSECURITY

The Senate has failed to pass the cybersecurity legislation, which would have set voluntary security standards for companies operating critical infrastructure, such as the electric grid and water treatment facilities. Some Congressional leaders said recently that a major cyber security attack is imminent and the Pentagon agrees. The White House is now penning an executive order which will enhance cyber-security of critical infrastructure. The Order is expected to be signed and released soon as the threat is so severe. Senator Jay Rockefeller today urged President Obama to issue an executive order strong enough to bolster security of the infrastructure computer systems before a cyber-attack occurs. The voluntary program stalled in the Senate cybersecurity bill would have offered incentives such as government assistance when dealing with a cyber attack. More Americans want the presidential candidates to focus on protecting the government and electrical grid from hackers than on fighting terrorism, a new study showed. The security survey conducted by Unisys found that the three highest priorities for Americans when is comes to security issues in the presidential campaign are:

  1. Protecting government computer systems against hackers and criminals (74 percent)
  2. Protecting our electric power grid, water utilities and transportation systems against computer or terrorist attacks (73 percent)
  3. Homeland security issues such as terrorism (68 percent)

The survey, based off a random phone survey of 1,000 households in America, asked, “How important is it for a candidate to emphasize the following issues in the upcoming 2012 presidential election?” along with a set of questions about how worried Americans were about other security issues, such as identity theft and online fraud.