Obama issues plan to protect US business networks

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has signed an executive order aimed at helping protect the computer networks of crucial American industries from cyberattacks and prodded Congress to enact legislation that would go even further.

Senior administration officials said Mr Obama's order calls for the development of voluntary standards to protect the computer systems that run critical sectors of the economy like the banking, power and transportation industries. It also directs U.S. defence and intelligence agencies to share classified threat data with those companies.

"Now, Congress must act as well by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks," Mr Obama said in his annual State of the Union address.

The president said America's enemies are "seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy."