Obama has made cybersecurity a top priority, and he stressed that organizations and the U.S. government need accountability and responsibility for cybersecurity, Dunkelberger said. "For the first time I've seen accountability has been mentioned as a part of this," he said.

Dix agreed that more details are needed, but called Obama's announcement a "very positive step."

"This isn't the end of it, this is the beginning of it," he said.

Dix and Clinton praised Obama's focus on government collaborating with private groups, instead of dictating mandates. Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate in April would create new mandates for private industry, but Obama focused more on how government and private groups could work together, Dix said.

Some cybersecurity experts have recently called for broad new regulations, but that wasn't part of Obama's approach Friday, Clinton added. "He made it very clear that the government will not be dictating technology standards for the private sector," Clinton said. "There have been some high-profile reports ... that say this is what the government needs to do. President Obama went exactly in the opposite direction."