...from: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/obama-everybodys-online-and-every...

Obama: “Everybody’s online and everybody’s vulnerable” [cid:35FD4F1C-650E-476F-8800-26270944CC66] White Househttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlTo9hFAFXs&spfreload=10 President Barack Obama signed an executive orderhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/12/fact-sheet-executive-order-promoting-private-sector-cybersecurity-inform on Friday that encourages more cybersecurity threat-related data sharing between the private sector and the government.

Speaking at Stanford University in California, where many tech leaders and other government officials also assembled, the president acknowledged that federal authorities are in a bind.

“I have to tell you that grappling with how government protects the American people from adverse events while at the same time making sure that government itself is not abusing its capabilities is hard,” he said.

“This cyber world is the Wild Wild West, and to some degree we’re asked to be the sheriff. When something like Sony happenshttp://arstechnica.com/security/2014/12/sony-pictures-hack-gets-uglier-north-korea-wont-deny-responsibility/, people want to know what government can do about it. The technology so often outstrips whatever rules and structures and standards have been put in place.”

“Everybody’s online and everybody’s vulnerable,” he added.

In an online statementhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/13/fact-sheet-white-house-summit-cybersecurity-and-consumer-protection, the White House added: "We must have new technologies that combine greater security and convenience. This technology moves beyond usernames and passwords to employ multiple security steps to better ensure a person is who they say they are."

The Obama administration has been actively workinghttp://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/13/fact-sheet-white-house-summit-cybersecurity-and-consumer-protection on this issue since 2013, when a previous executive order on Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity was signed. That, in turn, led to something called the “Cybersecurity Framework,” or a sort of blueprint that some Silicon Valley and other major firms have adopted, including Bank of America, Apple, and others.

Last month, Obama announcedhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/obama-calls-for-new-consumer-student-and-energy-data-privacy-laws/ new legislation aiming to protect consumer privacy and student privacy and offer enhanced protection of home energy usage data, among other things. (Some of the new suggested policies were first put forth in 2012http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/02/white-house-announces-new-privacy-bill-of-rights-do-not-track-agreement/.)

Some tech companies have butted heads with Washington and are dismayed that National Security Agency and other digital surveillance reforms have stalled. While Apple CEO Tim Cook did speak, executives from Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter were not in attendance. According to Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/us-usa-cybersecurity-exclusive-idUSKBN0LG2GR20150212, copies of the executive order’s text have not been made available to top tech executives.

A copy of the executive order has yet to be published on the White House website.