Trade group seeks to stave off cybersecurity mandates

A trade association of major defense, telecommunications and financial services businesses wants Congress and the Obama administration to avoid placing mandates on private companies when it comes to cybersecurity, and instead offer incentives that encourage companies to improve their practices. The Internet Security Alliance on Thursday issued a 70-page report promoting a partnership between the government and private companies that would encourage businesses to view good cybersecurity practices as being in their economic interest. "We will never have a sustainable system of cybersecurity until we change the economic equation that governs it," said Larry Clinton, president of the group. Clinton said the alliance had shared the report with the White House and planned to discuss it later Thursday with Christopher Painter, the National Security Council's cybersecurity director.