WASHINGTON — President Obama sent a bill to Congress on Tuesday to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity laws to protect government, businesses and consumers while protecting privacy, after recent hacking attacks against Sony Picture, Home Depot Inc, Target Corp and on Monday the federal government itself on Twitter.

“We’ve got to stay ahead of those who would do us harm. The problem is that government and the private sector are still not always working as closely together as we should,” Obama said.

During a tour of a “war room” at the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity nerve center, Obama said the attacks highlighted the threat to financial systems, power grids and healthcare systems that run on networks connected to the Internet.

Congress has tried for years to pass legislation to encourage companies to share data from cyberattacks with the government and each other. Liability issues raised by companies and privacy concerns of civil liberties groups contributed to the failure to implement such laws.

Obama’s proposed legislation looks to balance needs with concerns by offering liability protection to companies that provide information in near-real-time to the government, while requiring them to strip it of any personal data.

On Monday, the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. military command that oversees operations in the Middle East were hacked by people claiming to be sympathetic toward the Islamic State militant group being targeted in American bombing raids.

Obama said the attack, which is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, did not seem to affect classified information.

Obama has moved cybersecurity to the top of his 2015 agenda, seeing it as an area where cooperation is possible with the Republican-led Congress.

He discussed the legislation on Tuesday with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and said they agreed cybersecurity needed to be addressed. Reaction from other congressional leaders was also positive.

The leading Republicans and Democrats on the Senate and House Homeland Security committees said in a joint statement that Obama’s proposal would be useful.

The White House will also try to build support for the legislation at a cybersecurity summit scheduled for Feb. 13 at Stanford University. Obama proposed legislation in 2011 that died in Congress.