The White House has appointed its cyber tsar, following a seven month search.

美国白宫经历7个月的寻觅终于任命第一任网络安全主管。

President Obama emphasised cybersecurity while campaigning

Howard Schmidt, a former eBay and Microsoft executive who advised President Bush, was appointed after others turned down拒绝 the job.

Mr Schmidt has been set the task of uniting various disparate不同的 agencies and organisations to shore up支持，加固 the country's defence against cyber attack.

In May this year, President Obama pledged to personally appoint someone to the post.

"I bring to this challenge lessons learned during 40 years of experience in government, business and law enforcement法律的实施，执法," said Mr Schmidt.

"In our digital world the information technologies we depend on every day present us with great opportunity and great danger," added Mr Schmidt in a video broadcast posted on the White House website.

National security

He said that the president had already directed him to focus on several priority areas.

These include developing a new strategy to secure US networks, ensuring an organised response to future cyber incidents and leading a national campaign for cybersecurity, awareness¹ and education.

Some in the industry have warned of political pitfalls陷阱，诱惑 ahead as Mr Schmidt tries to pull together a number of government agencies and their various cybersecurity issues.

"I think it will be a very tough job. He's going to have to herd³ some cats," said Roger Thornton, CTO and founder⁴ of security vendor⁵ Fortify⁶ Software.

Cisco's chief security officer John N Stewart also suggested that Mr Schmidt had his work cut out for him.

"Today more than ever, we need greater collaboration合作 between government and business leaders to help enable national security and public safety," he said.

In a letter posted on the White House website, John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, said that protecting the internet was "critical to our national security, public safety and our personal privacy and civil liberties".

The White House's acting⁸ cyber-security head, Melissa Hathaway, stood down in August after complaining that the post did not allow her to implement实现，实施 necessary changes.