White House cyber czar stumps for comprehensive bill

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt pressed Congress to pass comprehensive cybersecurity legislation rather than tackling the issue in piecemeal fashion on Thursday.

"Our legislative proposals will move us toward accomplishing these goals, and while the task of securing our nation is never done, enacting them would be an incredibly important step," Schmidt said.

"At the same time, addressing only a portion of these needs by our cybersecurity professionals will continue to expose our country to serious risk."

Schmidt published a blog post advocating for a comprehensive bill similar to the White House's cybersecurity legislative proposal, arguing the House's focus on incentives for information sharing will not be enough to tackle the problem.

"Only providing incentives for the private sector to share more information will not, in and of itself, adequately address critical infrastructure vulnerabilities," Schmidt said.

"The American people expect the federal government to work with the private sector to ensure our critical infrastructure is protected."

The Senate is expected to take up comprehensive legislation in the coming weeks that would implement some network security regulations for critical infrastructure firms under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security.

The House has also begun movement recently on a package of cybersecurity bills, but the focus in the lower chamber has been mostly on incentives to encourage private firms to share information on threats and attacks with the government.

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