Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has delivered a speech to highlight efforts in the public and private effort sectors to fight cyber incursions.
The official sought to illustrate Wednesday how those incidents can affect citizensâ lives, financial systems and the economy by using real-world examples from both actual attacks and accidental failures.
He noted the banking sectorâs efforts to shore up cyber defenses but said support from third-party vendors and contractors is just as important in maintaining the countryâs financial institutions.
Lew urged leaders of the business community to engage in information sharing and open up communications with the government, other companies and within their organizations.
He said the agencyâs newly created Financial Sector Cyber Intelligence Group will work to provide data to industry for information sharing.
âThis unit consists of cyber experts and security analysts who scour law enforcement and intelligence reports constantly to find relevant activity, analyze and connect the dots between events, and issue information bulletins for security professionals in the financial sector,â Lew said at the fourth annual Delivering Alpha conference in New York.
Lew said the Treasury and the Obama administration are continuing to look for ways to strengthen cyber security strategy across the government.
He also encouraged Congress to pass relevant laws to support collaboration and liability protection.
âThe perils of cyber space are not insurmountable,â Lew said.
âCyber security must be ongoing, and by working togetherâall of usâwe will meet this test,â he concluded.