Obama Proposes New Cybersecurity Plan

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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — President Obama announced Tuesday a new Cybersecurity National Action Plan to help combat what the president calls one of the most important challenges the U.S. faces.

The plan calls for more than $19 billion for cybersecurity, with $3.1 billion going toward updating the government’s old computer system.

“The Social Security Administration uses systems and code from the 1960s,” Obama wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “No successful business could operate this way. Going forward, we will require agencies to increase protections for their most valued information and make it easier for them to update their networks.”

The Obama Administration will additionally create a new federal position called Chief Information Security Officer to control and lead the work changes across the government.

The plan will also require stepped-up efforts to build a group of cyber professionals across the government to “push practices at every level,” strengthen partnerships with the private sector to prevent threats, and empower Americans to protect themselves when they’re using the Internet.

“As long as I’m president, protecting America’s digital infrastructure is going to remain a top national-security priority,” Obama said in the op-ed. “We won’t resolve all these challenges over the coming year, but we’re laying a strong foundation for the future.”

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