The Obama administration has announced a new Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) as part of an effort to improve Americans’ digital security, and the move is prompting some dialogue.

The CNAP entails a number of key measures, including the establishment of a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, a proposed $3.1 billion Information Technology Modernization Fund, an allocation of more than $19 billion to digital security efforts in the 2017 budget, and even enhanced student loan forgiveness programs for digital security experts joining the federal government as new employees. The Plan also explicitly calls for multi-factor authentication, including biometric authentication, in online transactions.

The White House says that this last effort will entail a substantial public awareness campaign, which is to be conducted through the National Cyber Security Alliance; following suit, the NCSA has itself already announcedextensions to its tour promoting digital security. Major IT names including Microsoft, Google, and Facebook are also being recruited to help in this effort.

While all of these efforts on the government’s part are undoubtedly important, Nok Nok Labs CEO Phillip Dunkelberger has already come forward to call for greater efforts at public-private partnership, and more concrete legislation with respect to data breaches. Given the progress on digital security that has already been made by industry collaboratives like the FIDO Alliance, the government does indeed have a wealth of talent and expertise to draw from should it move to more fully involve the private sector in its digital security efforts.

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February 10, 2016 – by Alex Perala