back to article Obama signs Executive Order on critical cybersecurity

President Obama made space in his State of the Union address to mention online security and revealed that he has signed an executive order named "Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity." "We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy," the …

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  1. Herby

    Maybe if he signs an order to...

    Not have Microsoft Windows in government offices. Now that WOULD be an improvement in "security".

    1. Daniel B.

      Re: Maybe if he signs an order to...

      Windows shouldn't be in anything even remotely security-critical, but the OS does have a couple of gov't certs. You'd expect them to have learned their lesson after the whole McKinnon hack, but no.

  2. AchimR
    Terminator

    At least they're doing something

    If it's the right track however, time will tell.

    Here in Blighty apparently we're vulnerable for next few years as we don't have the people/infrastructure to deal with large scale attacks, apparently...

    1. Brandon 2
      IT Angle

      Re: At least they're doing something

      I'd much prefer they do nothing, if they're not sure it's "the right track", as you put it.

    2. Euripides Pants
      Unhappy

      Re: At least they're doing something

      Yep, they're preparing for everything except the thing that'll get 'em. My guess is that it will be some now, wonder food additive that will be found (too late, of course) to turn everything solid in the human body to liquid. Those of us who try to avoid weird ingredients will suffocate from the stench.

      1. Euripides Pants

        Re: D'oh!

        Should have been "new, wonder food additive"

  3. lancebekistan

    They mean compelled sharing

    Their aim isn't sharing it's compelled cooperation is their goal. And the criminalization of dissent.....

  4. Magani
    Black Helicopters

    Does this mean...

    ... they will now need my inside leg measurement, and the names and religions of my grandparents before I can board a plane bound for the 'Land of the Free'?

    Black helicopter, natch.

  5. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Big Brother

    The President signs something. That means things will get better, right?

    Yes, he's in full control, well informed, has clear goals, knows what a president is about and what a president should stand for.

    "That's why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information-sharing and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy."

    Glad that's cleared up. The administration can now continue to weaken national security, destroy jobs and eradicate "our" privacy via government control programs, as it has been doing for the last three presidential 4-year freakshows (if not the last four or five ones).

    1. Don Jefe

      Re: The President signs something. That means things will get better, right?

      Jesus dude. What are you on about? Google know more about you than the government. Try getting yourself arrested if you doubt me. I can search for myself on Facebook and discover as much about me as the police can get in an hour. Your other rants are far, far off any IT related topic, but if you've got privacy concerns it should be with private companies, not our super inefficient government.

    2. Robert Helpmann??
      Childcatcher

      Re: The President signs something. That means things will get better, right?

      if not the last four or five ones

      No, we are talking about the Prez signing something, not a trip to the local strip club (where you might want four or five ones, ya cheapskate). As it happens, it looks as though Cyber Com will be ramping up, which is likely to create jobs and is meant to increase national security. Your point about privacy is well taken, though. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

  6. Chris007
    Mushroom

    Translation

    "Executive Orders" == "Whims of a dictator"

    And nobody has had more "whims" than Obama

    1. PAW

      Re: Translation

      Obama has issued fewer exec orders than any U.S. president since Grover Cleveland over 100 years ago.

    2. Mike Moyle
      FAIL

      @ Chris007 -- Re: Translation

      http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/executiveorders.asp

      "First of all, the number of executive orders issued by President Obama is grossly exaggerated here. By our count, as of 28 September 2012 the total number of executive orders issued by President Obama was 138, not 923. Moreover, compared to President Obama's predecessors in the White House, this is not an unusually large number of orders for a modern president: President George W. Bush issued 291 executive orders during his eight years in office, while President Bill Clinton issued 364 such orders over the same span of time.

      "The listing of numbers of executive orders issued during the terms of modern presidents included in one of the examples above also bears no resemblance to reality."

      Obama's record on executive orders -- his "whims", as you would have it -- is well below such "tyrants"as Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman and Theodore Roosevelt.

      ...Watch a lot of Fox News, do you...?

      1. Chris007

        Re: @ Mike Moyle -- Translation

        Fair enough - I was only going on what I'd read.

        Perhaps my strapline should have been

        Nobody has had more "dictator like whims" than Obama (NDAA for a start)

      2. Tom 13

        Re: @ Chris007 -- Translation

        It's not the number, it's the breadth and the discretion that goes with them. Oh, and all those unaccountable "Czars" that go with it. Usually creating regulations to enforce those executive orders.

        And you should watch some Fox News to counteract all the Kool Aid you've been drinking.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He's just a moron

    Obama and the other criminals in U.S. government are clueless IMO. They wouldn't know how to develop cyber security if you hit them over the head with a clue.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Illusion of Privacy

    http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_privacy_illusion/

    ...A more accurate view is that the government divides the details of your life into two categories:

    1. Stuff they don't care about.

    2. Stuff they can find out if they have a reason.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    bring it on

    prepare for the net SOPA/PIPA incarnations while the President remains blameless while cashing in on all that Hollywood money and the support of CA politicians.

    Keep worrying about "free" birth control while the very information that would educate you on what is really going on, is stifled by EO's by the Vacation President.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Information-sharing and privacy ..

    "earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information-sharing and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy".

    A bogus pretext to expand the state spying apparatus on its own citizens. Increased information-sharing and privacy are two mutally incompatible concepts. Increasing information-sharing won't bring cyber security, what will is devising a 'computer' that can't be hacked by clicking on a hypertext link or opening an email msg.

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