President Obama argued that America must take steps to address the threat of cyber attacks, during his State of the Union address Tuesday. He announced signing an executive order to strengthen America’s cyber security and urged Congress to take action too.
“America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks,” Obama said, according to prepared remarks. “We know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private e-mail. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.”
He continued: “That’s why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy. Now, Congress must act as well, by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks.”
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