Dive Brief:

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is asking for public comment on a wide range of cybersecurity topics.
• The goal is to eventually make recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors. To craft those eventual recommendations, the commission is drawing on the public's knowledge of cybersecurity, particularly from "those who have experienced significant cybersecurity incidents to understand lessons learned from these experiences." 
• The effort is part of an overall strategy to maintain a "cyber environment that encourages efficiency, innovation and economic prosperity."

Dive Insight:

The commission is seeking more information about critical infrastructure cybersecurity, cyber insurance, cybersecurity R&D and the Internet of Things, among other topics. 

In February, Obama requested $19 billion for federal cybersecurity initiatives to help secure the government, critical infrastructure and "important technologies."

"I have charged the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity with the critically-important task of identifying the steps that our nation must take to ensure our cybersecurity in an increasingly digital world," Obama said in a statement.

As part of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, the Secretary of Commerce was tasked by the President to direct the Director of NIST to provide the Commission with "cybersecurity expertise, services, funds, facilities, staff, equipment and other support services as may be necessary to carry out its mission.