This week, US President Barack Obama will lay out a series of legislative proposals and executive actions to boost cyber security and improving access to broadband Internet, the White House has said. He will also propose measures aimed at tackling consumer issues like privacy and identity theft.
The news came as part of what the White House is calling SOTU Spoilers, a series of announcements previewing the president's annual State of the Union address, scheduled to be delivered to a joint session of Congress next Tuesday.
According to a release outlining the President's plans, he will visit the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, tomorrow and will focus on ways to increase information sharing between the private sector and the government.
Obama's goal is "to improve the government's ability to collaborate with industry to combat cyber threats," a White House official said.
The proposed measures come in the wake of the massive hack of Sony Pictures late last year that effectively brought the Hollywood mega-studio to its knees. The hack was followed by threats to carry out terror attacks against theaters that screened The Interview, a movie that depicts the assassination of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. After a lot of drama, the movie finally released on the Christmas Day in selected theaters as well as online.