In the wake of several high-profile cyberattacks on American businesses, including on Sony Pictures, the Obama administration will create an agency that will be responsible for monitoring cybersecurity threats, consolidating and in real-time disseminating that information,
a senior Obama administration official said Tuesday.
"The actions we take today, and those we failed to take, will determine whether cyberspace remains a great national asset, or increasingly, becomes a strategic liability, and economic and national security strength, or a source of vulnerability," said Lisa Monaco, White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism adviser, in a speech delivered at the Wilson Center.
According to Monaco, cybersecurity has emerged as a dominant issue and that annual reports of data breaches have increased about five-fold since 2009, including the breach of the customer database of healthcare giant Anthem Inc.
She added that last summer's Sony attack was a "game changer" because it was both "destructive and coercive."
The new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) is modeled after the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which was established by the Bush administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks (and later codified by Congress) as a means to assist agencies share intelligence in a rapid manner to disrupt terrorist threats on U.S. soil.
Monaco stressed the CTIIC will not collect the data, nor will it perform functions assigned to other intelligence centers.
"Presently, no single government entity is responsible for producing coordinated cyber threat assessments, ensuring that information is shared rapidly among existing cyber centers and other elements within out government and supporting the work of operators and policymakers with timely intelligence about the latest cyber threats and threat actors," said Monaco.
"One challenge will be identifying ways to work more closely with the private sector, where cyber threats are the most prevalent,” Matthew Olsen, a former NCTC director,
told The Washington Post in noting that the agency's efforts will depend on a "steady stream of data" from the private sector.
Last month,
the White House unveiled a legislative proposal to promote better cybersecurity information sharing between the private sector and government.
Monaco said she will be attending the Feb. 13 White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University, to discuss how to merge public and private sector efforts to protect American consumers and companies from cyber threats to consumers and commercial networks.
While the White House has focused on a defensive approach to cyber threats, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are looking to take a more aggressive, offensive response,
reports The Wall Street Journal.
"I’m wondering if we shouldn’t be thinking of strategy that, if a nation-state is behind a cyberattack … they will lose their network. Otherwise we are entirely in a defensive posture," Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine told the Journal. King has expressed his concerns in closed-door congressional briefings.
In response to the administration's creation of the CTIIC, King called it a "good start," but said more may need to be done.
"While this center is a good start, it’s time Congress acts. I again call on my colleagues to take up and pass robust cyber-security legislation. This has got to be one of our top priorities. Without proper protections in place, we are putting our personal information, critical infrastructure, and financial networks at tremendous risk,"
King said in a statement.
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