Cybersecurity

In a major cyber-hack, whom do you call? The White House spells it out.

President Obama approved a new directive Tuesday that spells out for the first time in writing how the government handles significant cyber-incidents.

The directive lets the public know which agency handles what, answering an oft-heard question after a breach: Whom do I call for help?

The administration also for the first time revealed how it grades the severity of an event — and how it determines what is significant.

The directive comes as the administration is grappling with its latest major cyber-incident: the Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee’s computers and the suspected release by the Russians of the embarrassing DNC emails that appeared Friday on the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks, days before the Democratic National Convention was to begin in Philadelphia.