The U.S. government will also look at new programs to train cybersecurity experts in schools and colleges, and it will focus on cybersecurity research programs, she said.

Improved cybersecurity policies are desperately needed, Hathaway said. Cyber-based fraud attacks on the U.S. financial sector have more than doubled in the past four months, she said. Asked to provide details, Hathaway said she couldn't give much information, but vulnerabilties at one institution have affected several others.

The Internet is lightly regulated, and that means there are risks online, she said. Its designers also didn't envision a worldwide ubiquitous network, as the Internet was originally created as a backup if other communications networks went down, she noted.

"The Internet was not designed to be the backbone of the global economy," Hathaway said. "It wasn't really meant to be secure, resilient and impenetrable."