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."

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), an online privacy and civil liberties group, also praised Obama's announcement. While the U.S. government needs to better protect computer networks, that doesn't mean it will track users online or intercept communications, Obama said. The office of the cybersecurity coordinator will also include a chief privacy officer, he said.

CDT is also happy that the White House, and not the secretive National Security Agency, will lead cybersecurity efforts, the group said.

"It's clear that the White House review team was committed to building privacy into these cybersecurity policy recommendations from the beginning of the process," CDT President and CEO Leslie Harris, said in a statement. "Further, we are greatly encouraged by the Administration's strong commitment to develop its cybersecurity privacy policies in a collaborative manner with those in the private sector."

Other statements in reaction to the White House report:

-- Shannon Kellogg, director of information security policy at EMC and a member of the National Cyber Security Alliance Board of Directors: "Public-private partnerships are critical to the success of a comprehensive cybersecurity public service campaign. A true collaboration among government agencies, nonprofits and private companies will enable us to empower our citizens to protect themselves and, in turn, make our country's overall cyber defenses stronger."

-- John Stewart, Cisco Systems vice president and chief security officer: "The administration's report is a culmination of the most focused and thorough discussion about the security of the nation's online infrastructure. I'm glad that so many experienced and knowledgeable contributors from the public and private sectors have given voice and are being heard. It's imperative that the public and private sector continue to collaborate."