On February 12, 2013, President Barack Obama signed an executive order after two failed efforts by Congress to shield U.S. computers from cyber attacks. Cyber-security is defined as "the body of technologies, process and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access." One year later, experts indicate that there is little to show from the president's proposal and legislative efforts.
Obama's budget last year proposed to boost the Defense Department spending to $4.7 billion to prevent cyber attacks. The Pentagon also planned to expand Cyber Command, which are comprised of military hackers devoted to "renaissance, surveillance, development, maintenance and analysis," as reported by Reuters.
For their part, the House Intelligence Committee also passed a bill to remove legal barriers, which prevented the government and private companies from protecting their networks against foreign hackers.
POLITICO, however, has reported a year later, "the administration does not have much to show... the program's early weakness are a sign that -even as high profile breaches at Target and other retailers compromise the data of millions of consumers - the White House and Congress have made minimal progress on the potentially more serious issue of protecting power plants, oil pipelines and major bans from a crippling cyberattack."
POLITICO added that the "administration has not provided much detail on a key component of the program [such as] - incentives for companies to adopt new cybersecurity standards."
New breaches and government's lack of success with preventing cyber attacks have caused great consternation to lawmakers.
"Weaknesses in the federal government's own cyber-security have put at risk the electrical grid, our financial markets, our emergency response systems, and our citizens' personal information," said Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn.
Hackers have "penetrated, taken control of, damaged, or stolen sensitive information from computer systems across the federal government including the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense, State, Labor, Energy, and Commerce," according to a new report. Hackers have also affected "NASA; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Federal Reserve; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; the Food and Drug Administration; the National Weather Service, and others," according to news reports.
"While politicians like to propose complex new regulations, massive new programs, and billions in new spending to improve cyber-security, there are very basic - and critically important - precautions that could protect our infrastructure and our citizens' private information that we simply aren't doing," Senator Coburn added.
Cybersecurity experts have said "education" remains the key to curb the dangers of breaches.
"It's a kind of cyber-threat amnesia that these agencies have. Each time there's a major attack these agencies declare that it's a "wake up call," make some changes - and then forget about it. Does this mean its impossible and that we should just give up? No some folks are getting it right. The solution is education," said Bob Gourley, publisher of CTOLabs.com, a technical research service focused on federal cyber-security.
In December, the Target Corporation was sued by at least 11 customers over a credit card security breach.
"Target's first priority is preserving the trust of our guests and we have moved swiftly to address this issue, so guests can shop with confidence. We regret any inconvenience this may cause," Target President and CEO Gregg Steinhafel said in a statement in December.
"The security breach is a particular black eye because it has used its red credit and debit cards as a powerful marketing tool to lure shoppers at a time when the discounter had an uneven sale performance since the recession. Since 2010, Target... offered shoppers who use its cards 5 percent off on purchases and rolled out other incentives like free shipping for online customers," The Associated Press reported in December.
