President Barack Obama tours the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in Arlington, Virginia. He is accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and tour guides Dr. Phyllis Schneck, Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity & Communications, and Brigadier General Greg Touhill, (Ret.), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity Operations and Programs.
January 13, 2015.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
This week is a big one for cybersecurity.
President Obama is using the week before his State of the Union to highlight the importance of cybersecurity and to outline the steps this Administration is taking to tackle this problem head-on. As many companies and government agencies know far too well, the cyber threat is only increasing in breadth, pace, sophistication, and impact. The events of the past year, including numerous breaches into major retailers, a widespread encryption vulnerability known as Heartbleed, and the recent destructive and coercive cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, clearly demonstrate the need to accelerate collective efforts to increase our nation’s cybersecurity and to preserve and protect our core values as a nation.