the creation of a new service to monitor threatsoriginating from the Internet.
The United States government is moving forward with the creation of a new cyber threat monitoring agency that will gather and analyze information on a wide range of risks, a senior Obama administration official said today.
The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) will be an "information center that will 'connect the dots' between various threats to national security in cyberspace, so that relevant agencies and organizations are aware of them in the shortest possible real time," Reuters news agency reported, citing the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The issue of digital infrastructure security has moved to the top of Obama's agenda for 2015 after recent attacks on the electronic systems of Sony Pictures, Home Depot Inc, Target Corp, as well as the federal government's own systems.
The purpose of the CTIIC will be to “ensure the seamless flow of information between agencies, including those responsible for sharing with the private sector,” the official said in an email to Reuters.
There are departments in various agencies (NSA, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, CIA) responsible for these threats. The center's goal is to evaluate the enormous volume of information that is collected.
The creation of the agency is expected to be officially announced today by White House counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco. The Obama administration has likened the new agency to the US National Counterterrorism Center, which was established after the September 11, 2001 attacks after criticism of the then administration's inability to communicate effectively among US intelligence agencies.
"None of the existing agencies have the responsibility for these specific responsibilities, and therefore these gaps must be filled in order to help the federal government assume its responsibilities for cybersecurity," the official said.
Years of efforts to get Congress to pass a law that would encourage companies that have been hacked to share data with the government and with each other have run into legal liability issues and privacy concerns.
A law was never passed, as companies raised concerns about potential liability under the law, while privacy concerns raised by civil liberties groups contributed to the failure of the effort to advance the law.
The Obama administration's proposed legislation attempts to balance the need to protect security with the need to assuage privacy concerns by offering a disclaimer to companies that provide information to the government in near real-time, while also requiring companies to remove any personal data from the information they send to authorities.
Source: kathimerini.gr
