Cybersecurity/ New legislation against cyberattacks threats

The United States needs to be prepared to fight against cyberattacks as much as physical attacks, President Obama said in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

The country needs to integrate "intelligence to combat cyberthreats, just as we have done to combat terrorism," the president said.

"No foreign nation, no hacker, should be able to shut down our networks, steal our trade secrets, or invade the privacy of American families," he said.

He urged Congress to pass legislation meant to "better meet the evolving threat of cyberattacks, combat identity theft, and protect our children's information."

The legislation, would allow make it easier for private companies to share potential cyberthreats with the Department of Homeland Security, which would then share it in "close to real-time" with other relevant federal agencies, the White House said in a blog posting last week.

Obama: We need intelligence to fight cyber attacks