Faced with increasingly troubling attacks on its cyber infrastructure, the United States has outlined new measures intended to help it respond more effectively to attacks that might compromise public safety or its national security interests.
On Tuesday, President Obama approved a
directive that lays out how federal agencies will respond to “significant cyber incidents," with the FBI to be formally in charge of investigating.
Although the President has made cybersecurity a priority, the U.S. continues to confront attacks targeting the private sector and the federal government, the White House said.
Some of these include “significant cyber incidents” which the President defines as attacks that will likely harm the U.S.’s national security, economy, civil liberties or public confidence.
“Cyber incidents are a fact of contemporary life,” he wrote. “And significant cyber incidents are occurring with increasing frequency.”
As part of his directive, the President is ordering the FBI to take the lead in investigating and dealing with perpetrators of major cyber attacks.
