President Mentions Cyber-Threats in State of the Union Address

Cyber practitioners have long wondered when this would happen. Now it has. The President of the United States has finally realized that the threat from malicious actors in cyberspace has grown so significant that it bears mentioning in the State of the Union Address.

In his January 24, 2012 State of the Union Address President Obama, while talking about America’s military strength, said:

“To stay one step ahead of our adversaries, I have already sent this Congress legislation that will secure our country from the growing danger of cyber-threats.”

It might be that I’m attaching more significance to this mention that it deserves. But many of us have wondered or decades why cyber threats have not warranted this level of attention. The threat of cyber attacks is significant, and the theft of intellectual property (which has an impact on the economy and jobs), is unrelenting.

It was good hearing this reference to the cyber threat in the State of the Union. I don’t mean to say I’m glad there are threats! I mean to underscore that more awareness of cyber threats is a good thing.

I wonder if my friends Howard Schmidt or Sameer Bhalotra had anything to do with this? Since they led coordination on the issues in the legislative package sent to Congress, I bet they did.