[JURIST] A White House official on Saturday announced that President Barack Obama [official profile] plans to address cybersecurity as it relates to American consumers and businesses next week. According to the official, the plan will include [Reuters report] legislative initiatives and executive actions. The announcement comes in the wake of a cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment [corporate website] for which North Korea has been blamed. The White House official said that next week Obama will present plans “to improve confidence in technology by tackling identity theft and improving consumer and student privacy,” will discuss national security with members of Congress and will visit the Department of Homeland Security [official website] to encourage information sharing between the government and the private sector and industry to combat cyber threats.

The Obama administration has identified cybersecurity as “one of the most serious economic and national security” issues [National Cybersecurity Initiative] that faces the US, and has been dedicated to addressing the issue since the beginning of Obama’s term of office. In March Obama administration official Melanie Ann Pustay testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] to urge congressional officials to amend [JURIST report] the Freedom of Information Act [official website] to strengthen government’s ability to prevent disclosure of information related to critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. The White House also addressed cybersecurity with the issuance of Executive Order 13636 [text] in 2013, “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity,” created to control cyber risk. Later in 2013 the US House of Representatives [official website] passed [JURIST report] a controversial cybersecurity bill [HR 624, PDF], the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which proposed to allow corporations to share customers’ personal data with other firms and the US government, even in the face of a company contract prohibiting such activity. The Obama administration has stated that it remains dedicated to carrying out recommendations set forth in the Cyberspace Policy Review [text, PDF] which is based on the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative [text] launched by President George W. Bush [official profile] in 2008, developed to ensure cybersecurity of the US.