Obama to appoint cybersecurity czar

WASHINGTON —- President Barack Obama on Friday declared the country’s computer and digital networks a “strategic national asset” and said he would personally select a cybersecurity coordinator to spearhead the effort to protect them.

“We’re not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country,” he said. He made the speech from the White House East Room, in an effort to bring to the nation’s attention what he termed one of the most serious economic and military dangers threatening the country.

He laid out the threat, noting that in the last two years alone, cyber thieves have cost Americans more than $8 billion and that last year worldwide they stole data worth up to $1 trillion. He described how even his own presidential campaign network had been compromised last fall, with hackers gaining access to position papers and travel plans.

In a serious attack on the military network last year, Obama said, several thousand computers were infected by malware, forcing troops to abandon use of thumb drives, changing the way they use computers.

“Protecting this infrastructure will be a national security priority,” he said. “We will ensure that these networks are secure, trustworthy and resilient. We will deter, prevent and … defend against attacks and recover quickly from any disruptions or damage.”

The new cyber czar, whom he has not yet chosen, will be a member of the National Security Council and National Economic Council. He or she will head a new White House cyber office that will work closely with the Office of Management and Budget to ensure agency budgets reflect cyber security policies, the president said, and in the event of a major cyber attack, coordinate the government’s response.

The office will include an official dedicated to protecting privacy and civil liberties, Obama said.

The president stressed that the new effort would not include “monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic.”

The announcement coincided with the release of a 38-page report that outlines a broad strategy to strengthen cybersecurity. The report is intended as a roadmap with substantive policies to be worked out later.

More than 120 industry, academic and government officials attended the speech.

Atlanta is one of the nation’s biggest hubs for cybersecurity, with dozens of local companies involved in developing and selling security software and services.

Mustaque Ahamad, director of Georgia Tech’s Information Security Center, was heartened by what the initiative could mean for his team. With more than 100 graduate students and 20 professors, the center is one of the nation’s biggest schools for cybersecurity research.

“The focus and the visibility that this brings to this space is something that is certainly going to be very important … to Atlanta,” he said.