The federal government will start to prioritize major cyber-assaults while essentially letting run-of-the-mill hacks slide, the White House announced Tuesday.
“Significant cyber incidents demand a more coordinated, integrated and structured response,” the White House said in a cybersecurity directive.
In the announcement, President Barack Obama cautioned that after any government agency is hacked, the obligations to investigate must be balanced with the need of the affected operation to return to normal functioning as soon as possible.
The new guidelines also called for the protecting of privacy, civil liberties and sensitive private sector information in the federal responses to cyber-assaults.
Recently, hackers’ data breaches at the Internal Revenue Service and Office of Personnel Management exposed the Social Security numbers and bank account information of millions of Americans. Such breaches need an all-hands-on deck approach to cybersecurity, said the White House release.
“Individuals, the private sector and government agencies have a shared vital interest and complementary roles and responsibilities in protecting the nation from malicious cyber-activity and managing cyber-incidents and their consequences,” it said.
While the directive only talks about government agencies, the feds have taken the lead in developing strategies for cyber assaults against financial services companies and other mainstays of the economy.