Trump’s administration sets up cyber security initiative

World Today

The White House said the heads of each U.S. government agency will be responsible for securing their networks against hacking, intrusions, service disruptions, data and identity theft.

CGTN’s Daniel Ryntjes reports.

Follow Daniel Ryntjes on Twitter @danielryntjes

“We must defend and protect federal networks and data. We operate these networks on behalf of the American people,” President Donald Trump said.

The White House is urging them to follow the protocols established by another government agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

But Donald Trump also wants these agencies to work more closely together with specialist companies that have gained expertise in protecting private network.

A group of officials have also been providing advice to the White House team drafting an Executive Order initiating the new policy response.

The work will be coordinated by a White House council headed by by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who owns a security consulting firm.

“The private sector is wide open to hacking and sometimes by hacking the private sector you get into government. So we can’t do this separately,” Giuliani said.

The issue of cyber security was raised during Donald Trump’s presidential run when hackers gained access to emails and data belonging to the Democratic National Committee and members of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Given Donald Trump’s fractious relationship with several intelligence agencies during the presidential transition, the initiative is likely to receive heightened political scrutiny in the days to come.