Obama's Cyber Attack

[Commentary] Any day now, the White House will issue an executive order on cybersecurity.

The executive moved on its own after Congressional efforts stalled this summer. The Senate split over mandating IT security standards for private companies, and the Administration's order resuscitates this contentious idea. It will also undercut efforts to fashion a bipartisan bill in a lame duck Congress. The Administration's evident motive is to impose government oversight of cyberspace. As it worked to undercut information sharing, the White House pushed the Senate to adopt mandatory IT standards for companies in "critical sectors." Those provisions were weakened in later drafts of the measure, but Senate Republicans still sensibly balked at the attempt to give the Department of Homeland Security oversight over the virtual world, and any bill with such mandates could never pass the House. According to leaked versions of the draft, the executive order would impose security standards for 16 critical industries. The adoption of these "voluntary" (ironic quotes intended) and probably costly measures could be a condition for private companies to win federal contracts. A DHS-led cybersecurity council will decide who's "critical." Twitter and Facebook could easily end up on the list along with electricity providers or financial services firms.