WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama has ordered the establishment of a new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration center (CTIIC) to protect the United States from foreign cyberattacks, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
The CTIIC will not give intelligence agencies additional surveillance powers or solicit private sector support for eavesdropping, according to the statement. Rather, the new agency will focus on strengthening network security, responding to cyberattacks, and sharing information on such attacks with other agencies.
US and British intelligence agencies have faced criticism most recently for hacking into the networks of the world’s largest SIM cards manufacturer Gemalto, as revealed in documents provided by US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.