On February 13, at the White House's Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, President Obama signed an executive order boosting cybersecurity information-sharing efforts between the private sector and the federal government. The new executive order urges companies in the private sector to create Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations ("ISAOs") for data exchange and collaboration across regions or in response to a specific emerging cybersecurity threat. DHS is responsible for developing a common set of voluntary standards for ISAOs, and lawmakers and representatives from DHS weighed the merits of the President's executive order at a February 25 hearing.

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