Cybersecurity continues to be a hot topic for consumers and politicians alike, affecting us at the national and global level. In a News Desk interview earlier today, SiliconANGLE contributing editor Jon Casaretto talked about lawmakers’ recent response to cybersecurity, as well as other updates from this space (full video below).

The first thing John tackles is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s efforts at revitalizing the roll out of a government security guideline, in response to a fresh warning Leon Panetta. The Defense Secretary made it very clear that the U.S faces very serious cyber-security threats, and conveyed a sense of urgency that left no room for doubt.

Legislation over public sector cyber security policies came to a halt in August due to a feud between the two parties, and now two new versions have been prepared by the Department of Defense. The dispute lies in foreign involvement: one draft proposes that the intentional community should take an active role in creating and enforcing these guidelines, but the GOP objects. There’s also the topic of compliance, and in particular the amount of wiggling room government agencies will get when implementing this framework.

The White House released an executive order that overlaps, to a large extent, the outline presented in the Senate.

Casaretto notes that security talks in Washington didn’t just resume – lawmakers have been driven to address Pantta’s warning, and a recent string of attacks that is blamed on Iran.

The nation attempted to infiltrate the networks of several U.S finical services provider and Saudi Sramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company. The latter assault was successful – the hackers managed to delete tens of thousands of files by overriding them. Officials were surprised by both the scale and complexity the latter operation – it was one of the largest security breaches the private sector has ever seen.

Casaretto said that the public sector is on the right track – standardizing security policies across agencies and critical infrastructure is a step in the right director.