President Obama signs two executive orders on cybersecurity

Through two executive orders signed Feb 9, President Barack Obama put in place a structure to fortify the government's defenses against cyberattacks and protect the personal information the government keeps about its citizens. President Obama created two new entities as part of a $19 billion budget proposal to Congress on cybersecurity: The first, a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, will be made up of business, technology, national security and law enforcement leaders who will make recommendations to strengthen online security in the public and private sectors. It will deliver a report to the president by Dec 1. The second, a Federal Privacy Council, will bring together chief privacy officers from 25 federal agencies to coordinate efforts to protect the vast amounts of data the federal government collects and maintains about taxpayers and citizens.

President Obama's cybersecurity adviser, Michael Daniel, said the structure allows the administration to move forward even without additional authority from Congress by "driving our executive authority to the limit." The Administration's plan will look at cybersecurity both inside and outside the government. There will be more training and shared resources among government agencies, 48 dedicated teams to respond to attacks, and student loan forgiveness to help recruit top technical talent. But the will plan also promote better security practices throughout the economy, by encouraging through multi-factor authentication that uses additional information in addition to a password.