Does Obama need to step in to protect power grids from cyberattack?

Congress appears gridlocked on a cybersecurity bill to protect power grids and other critical infrastructure, so President Obama is considering an executive order.?

By Mark Clayton,?Staff writer / August 31, 2012

The Air Force Space Command Network Operations & Security Center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., is seen as a model for how power grids, communications, water utilities, financial networks should be shielded from cyberattack.

Rick Wilking/REUTERS/File

Enlarge

With Congress apparently deadlocked on cybersecurity legislation, the Obama administration is actively weighing an executive order that would give federal agencies authority to begin protecting computer networks that control the nation's critical infrastructure ? such as power grids, refineries, and water facilities ? against cyberattack.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

An executive order could not be as sweeping as congressional legislation, but top Democrats are increasingly urging President Obama to take whatever action he can, sensing that compromise on a bill currently in the Senate looks unlikely in the near term.?

The order could help the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) better protect federal networks, as well as establish a system of information sharing on potential threats among federal government agencies and private companies. But the participation of private companies would be voluntary, and many might be loath to submit their networks to testing by DHS without the promise of protection from financial liability in the event of a devastating cyberattack ? something possible only in a congressional bill.

Indeed, an executive order would involve complications, sources say.?

"They're meeting on this right now, thinking about what would actually be included in such an order," says one source familiar with the meetings, but who spoke with the Monitor only on condition of anonymity.

"One obstacle is that DHS wants more authority than it has, but since there's limited authority in the law for DHS ? and [Obama] can't just make it up," the source adds. "Still, there are voluntary measures and incentives that could be implemented."

On Aug. 2, the Senate passed cybersecurity legislation, 52 to 46, but 60 votes are needed to circumvent a filibuster, meaning Republicans can delay the bill indefinitely. Republicans worry that the bill would give the government undue influence over private businesses. Now, as the Senate's fall break approaches, intense legislative negotiations are continuing behind the scenes in a last-minute bid to pull together a compromise.?But with any such effort likely to go down to the wire, the White House is pushing ahead, too.

Ideas about what might be in the order are starting to emerge.

The goal would be to have ?a near-real-time common operating picture? for threats to critical infrastructure and ?strong cooperation? between the government and companies, especially energy and communications companies, according to a draft document now circulating in the White House, Bloomberg reports.

At the same time, DHS would defend federal and nonmilitary networks and coordinate efforts to protect private-sector networks.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/-dik-zHlKF4/Does-Obama-need-to-step-in-to-protect-power-grids-from-cyberattack

jack del rio fired made in america made in america icam patrice o neal. osteopathy osteopathy