President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order and the reintroduction of...

infrastructure from cyberattacks: The executive order is an “important step in maintaining the already-high level of mandatory cybersecurity standards that govern our industry while also opening the door to other venues of collaboration between the federal government and the electric utility sector.” What is “necessary” for utilities is “sharing and protection of information” with the government, it said. Stifel Nicolaus analysts said the telco and cable sectors have concerns about new language in the final executive order -- updated from a November draft -- exempting “consumer information technology services” such as software applications, on top of the draft’s exemption of IT devices and equipment from regulation. “The precise scope of the exclusion is unclear and may depend on how IT products and services are used, but broadband providers object to giving tech/edge players a free pass, even though their devices/equipment and applications are integral to the communications eco-system,” the analysts wrote investors Wednesday. It’s also “a little curious” that the order seems to tell the FCC, “an independent regulatory agency, what to do” in language instructing it to “exercise its authority and expertise” with other agencies to prioritize communications infrastructure, identify communications vulnerabilities and work with stakeholders to increase security and resilience, the report said. Telcos also may have concerns the instruction to the FCC “could entangle them in the bureaucratic fights” of other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the report said. Business Roundtable President John Engler said in testimony Thursday (http://xrl.us/bogyzp) to the House Intelligence Committee that the group supported the reintroduced CISPA, as it did last year’s bill. “From our perspective, the missing piece of effective cybersecurity is robust, two-way information sharing, with appropriate legal and privacy protections, between business and government,” he said: What exists today is “not supported by strong legal protections” for companies sharing and receiving cybersecurity information, and also lacks “formal guidance on antitrust laws” for sharing information within and across sectors. Plus, “there are not nearly enough security clearances” for employees at “large global enterprises” and “senior corporate managers can only speculate about which threats are greatest” without access to “timely and actionable threat information,” said Engler, a Republican and former governor of Michigan. Kevin Richards, TechAmerica senior vice president of federal government affairs, said the group continues to support CISPA because it “prioritizes information sharing, which is the linchpin to any successful cybersecurity strategy and offers critical liability protections.” Meanwhile, a national survey of 1,021 adults by cyber consulting firm Tenable Network Security last week found that 93 percent believe U.S. businesses are “at least somewhat vulnerable to state-sponsored” cyberattacks, and 95 percent of government agencies are “somewhat to very” vulnerable, Tenable said Thursday. Six in 10 support increasing government spending to train and equip “cyberwarriors,” with only one in 10 opposed, it said. Ninety-four percent said the president should have “the same level of authority” to react to cyberattacks as to “physical attacks” on the U.S. Americans are conflicted about who should take responsibility, with 66 percent saying corporations “should be held responsible for cyber breaches” and 62 percent saying government should protect business from cyberattacks, the survey found.