The US government has been slow to embrace anti-hacking efforts in recent years, largely because of a lack of funding and expertise.
And it’s not clear what kind of federal agency would be created to fight this scourge.
The idea of a national cybersecurity agency has been floating around for years, but it’s never really gotten much traction.
“It would be pretty hard to imagine that the government would be a good source of information on cybersecurity because of its very limited resources,” said James Cone, director of the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security Policy at Georgetown University.
As it stands, the US government is just a collection of departments and agencies.
But that doesn’t mean it’s useless.
“There’s a lot of different agencies that have different missions and responsibilities,” said Cone.
It could be that federal agencies would have a broader range of capabilities than they do today, but in the end, they’d be limited to their original missions.
“It could make sense to have a single agency to do cybersecurity, but that would have to be a fairly large agency,” Cone said.
“I’m not convinced that that’s a very good solution for the government.
It would be really hard to build a single cybersecurity agency.”
A federal cybersecurity agency would also need to be politically feasible, as cybersecurity has become a very contentious issue in Congress.
But Cone thinks there are many ways to achieve that, including legislation.
Congress has a history of taking on cybersecurity challenges, especially in the wake of the 2012 attacks on the US Capitol.
The cybersecurity bill known as the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 passed through Congress in March 2014, but was stalled by a filibuster by Republican members.
The Senate has voted on dozens of cybersecurity bills over the past year, with bipartisan support.
“There is a lot more support for cybersecurity,” Cones said.
“The idea that the federal government is going to be one of the most important organizations in cybersecurity right now, it’s a big idea.
It’s one that’s been around for a while.”
The best way to tackle cybersecurity is with the right infrastructure, said Cones.
In terms of creating a cybersecurity agency, Cone believes a federal cybersecurity board would be useful, since the US has an infrastructure that supports cybersecurity, including the Department of Defense.
“A board of cybersecurity would be very valuable,” he said.
One of the reasons Congress passed the Cyber Security Act of 2013 was because of the need for the United States to respond to the unprecedented attacks in the US.
The Act authorized $100 billion to be used to increase the number of cybersecurity staff and equipment in the military and the Department for National Security.
“You can’t just sit on a pile of equipment,” Cever said.
Cone and others believe a national security board would have the most leverage in the fight against cyberattacks.
“In the US, it would be much easier for the US to get involved in cybersecurity,” he added.
“The federal government has a lot to gain from being a leader in cybersecurity.”
It would also be easier to put a cybersecurity board on the same level as the National Security Agency.
“National security is very sensitive, especially with regard to cybersecurity,” said Richard Ledgett, director and a professor of cybersecurity at the Naval War College.
“When we talk about national security, it should be understood as the responsibility of the US and the state governments to protect the United State from the most devastating attacks in history.
If the US can get more involved in this cybersecurity arena, it will be a much more secure country,” he told NBC News.