Cyber Security and the Next President
Photo: The world’s largest BSoD, outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York.
Who will be the next President? With voters casting ballots in 43 nominating contests in 24 states right now, we should have a clearer understanding — though most probably not a definitive one — of who the nominees for each party will likely be later this evening.
(Voters in New York might be late getting to the polls today, on account of the Giants parade taking place as we write this.)
Regardless of who ultimately wins in November, among the many issues the next president will have to contend with is creating a strategy for securing cyberspace. But they don’t have to contend with the issue alone, because the Center for Strategic and International Studies has established a Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency:
The Commission will examine existing plans and strategies to assess what a new administration should continue, what it should change, and what new policies should be adopted or new authorities sought from Congress [in pursuit of cyber security]. Issues for consideration will include infrastructure protection, software assurance, federal agency cyber security, and information security initiatives in both the public and private sectors. As part of its work, the Commission will review how the Federal government organizes its cybersecurity efforts and make recommendations for improvement. It will examine existing legal authorities for cyber security and identify where new authorities (including incentives) are necessary.
The Commission will be a bipartisan group composed of twenty to twenty-five experts drawn from the cyber security policy community and from the private sector. It will be co-chaired by leaders from Congress and the private sector. The work of the Commissioners will be reinforced by a private sector advisory group composed of representatives from companies and associations, and by the ex officio participation of relevant federal officials…
The final product would be a well-supported package of recommendations for improving cyber security that could help to guide both a legislative agenda and Presidential policy documents….
CSIS is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. with more than 200 staff and a large network of affiliated experts. Its focus is on security in a changing global environment.
The CSIS isn’t alone in thinking ahead about cyber security, of course. DoD IT, cybersecurity, SPACECOM, STRATCOM, DISA — everybody’s trying to prevent an "electronic Pearl Harbor."
Cybersecurity is becoming a critical issue for the private sector, too. Verizon just hired a former Army guy to lead their cyber security effort.
What will Verizon’s new cybersecurity guru look into first? How about the submarine cable disruptions in the Mediterranean Sea and Persion Gulf? If you’re keeping score at home, there have been two disruptions in each cable — near Marseilles, France, and Alexandria, Egypt; near Dubai and another near Qatar– all within a week of each other. Ships’ anchors caused three of the incidents and power trouble caused the fourth, as we blogged recently.
Given all the recent trouble undersea, it’s no wonder the U.S. government prefers using satcom over fiber, even for their radios in the field .
