To promote better cybersecurity, President Barack Obama called for private companies to share more information with each other and with the federal government.
During the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University in California, President Obama signed an executive order outlining a framework through which companies should communicate information about potential cyber threats. The private sector needs to help defend the nation's cybersecurity because the federal government cannot protect everything, "nor would Americans want it to," according to a White House news release.
President Obama reaffirmed the use of the Cybersecurity Framework, which was created in 2014, a cybersecurity benchmark guideline for organizations. Intel, Apple, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Pacific Gas & Electric, AIG, QVC, Walgreens and Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente all committed or reaffirmed commitments to using the framework, according to the White House news release.
The president also called for companies to implement more secure payment technologies and multi-factor authentication processes. While he applauded Congress for considering and passing some cybersecurity measures, he called on the legislative branch to pass an updated cybersecurity proposal, which includes enabling information sharing and modernizing authorities to combat cyber crime.
"As a country, one of our greatest resources are the young people, the digitally fearless," President Obama said during the speech. "But it also means that the problem of how we secure this digital world will only increase."