US President Barack Obama renewed calls on Tuesday for cybersecurity legislation and asked the new Congress to revive an initiative which had been stalled in recent years.

The new proposal would allow increased sharing of information on cyber threats from the private sector with protection from liability.

It would also be a criminal offence to sell stolen financial data and companies would have to notify consumers about data breaches under the measures.

Speaking at a White House meeting with congressional leaders, Obama said that recent events had increased the need for tougher cybersecurity legislation.

"With the Sony attack that took place, with the Twitter account that was hacked by Islamist jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show we need to do much more work in the public and private sector to strengthen our cyber security," the president said.

A White House statement said the updated proposal "promotes better cybersecurity information sharing between the private sector and government, and it enhances collaboration and information sharing amongst the private sector."

Sense of urgency over cybersecurity

Obama had pressed for the legislation to be revised in order to allow the private sector to share data on threats without fear of any adverse consequences from the disclosures.

Earlier efforts were stalled due to opposition from civil libertarians who feared the measures could allow too much government interference. In turn, conservatives argued they would create a new bureaucracy.

However, concerns were further heightened by the hacking of Sony Pictures in December, which the administration blamed on North Korea, and major data breaches affecting retailers including Target and Home Depot.

On Monday, the US Central Command suspended its Twitter and YouTube pages after a group declaring its support for "Islamic State" (IS) jihadists hacked its social media accounts and posted internal documents.

However, it seems to have been a temporary hitch as the department's Twitter account was up and running once again on Tuesday:

Obama was scheduled to comment on the legislative proposals later on Tuesday in a speech at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in Virginia.

The proposals are also expected to be part of his State of the Union address on January 20.

lw/msh (AFP, AP)