Washington – USÂ President Barack Obama unveiled an effort on Tuesday to bolster the government’s cybersecurity amid a growing threat from hackers. The move aims to update outdated technology infrastructure and creates a chief information security officer position to oversee cybersecurity for the entire government.
It establishes a commission on enhancing national cybersecurity made up of government, business and technology leaders. The commission is to offer recommendations to the government and private sector on security by the end of the year.
Obama is also seeking 19 billion dollars for cybersecurity in his 2017 budget request, a 35% increase from the current fiscal year. Last year, a massive hacking of federal personnel record led to the data of 21 million people being compromised, and USÂ officials pointed the finger at Chinese hackers.
Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in talks in September not to engage in government-sponsored theft of intellectual property and business secrets in cyberspace, but monitoring groups say the practice has continued.
The effort unveiled on Tuesday also encourages Americans to do more to bolster their own online security and calls for tech companies like Google, Facebook, DropBox and Microsoft to make it easier for users to secure their accounts and for payment companies to make transactions more secure.