A few weeks ago, Security Debrief hosted a superb session with one of the most intriguing people I have ever met. A former judge, Ms. Shannen Rossmiller characterizes herself as a “cyber operative.” Her function can best be described as a nontraditional intel gatherer for cyber counter intelligence. She works over the Net on jihadi radicalization and recruitment issues, and she is a new cyber warrior on a new battlefield.
Business Executives for National Security (BENS) hosted the first of a new series of round tables today that will cover Cyber Security and Cyber War. This first meeting was a discussion with Jeffery Carr, the author of “Inside Cyber Warfare,” and the discussion moved between the threats, the government responses to them and why the government is not doing too well. The bottom line was this: Carr believes we are presently involved in a cyber war.
At the National Press Club, the SANS Institute and GovExec Magazine held a superb two-hour session that broached the controversial, ill-defined and critical issues around Cyber War. It was an excellent discussion with true experts. It would have been worth it to go beyond the time limits, as we ran out of time well before we ran out of questions. What follows is not a transcript but my paraphrased review of what was covered.
Scientists view cybersecurity as an intimidating conundrum – Nextgov The Internet’s extensive cybersecurity vulnerabilities are so hard to fix that information technology researchers sometimes avoid studying the topic like they were steering clear of the seamy underbelly of a great metropolitan city, top scientists said on Thursday.
Nation’s nuclear power plants prepare for cyberattacks – NextGov
The threat to digital systems at the country’s nuclear power plants is considerable, but the sector is better prepared to defend against potentially devastating cyberattacks than most other utilities, according to government and industry officials and experts.
Over the last decade, America and her allies have done a solid job of beating al Qaeda to a bloody pulp. We’ve hit them with everything we’ve got: troops on the ground; Predator drones in the sky; missiles from the sea; and we’re taking them apart piece by piece on the Web. But it’s not just the government that’s running down al Qaeda. Even U.S. citizens are using some good-ol’-fashioned American initiative; citizens like Shannen Rossmiller, a citizen cyberspy.
Roles and responsibilities key to making cybersecurity work – NextGov
Clarification of cybersecurity roles and responsibilities in the federal government remains the most crucial component of bills circulating in Congress, federal and industry executives said during a panel discussion on Thursday.
Those who read my Security Debrief posts or my Tweets will recognize (maybe with a groan) that one of my “issues” is the lack of action in Awareness and Education with regard to cybersecurity. It is not a sexy, nor a potentially lucrative issue, but I believe with all my heart that it is the foundational piece of any eventual “solution” to our cyber woes. Bottom line of Bucci’s rant is this: we need to make Awareness and Education a real priority and expend the money, time, and personnel to do it correctly.
A recent blog post on Wire.com “Cyberwar Against Wikileaks? Good Luck With That” was brought to my attention by a good friend. She nominally just wanted my thoughts on the provocative article, but in effect, challenged me to blog on the subject. Some have argued that the U.S. Government could levy its cyber capabilities to stop WikiLeaks from sharing the classified information leaked to the online outlet by a young U.S. soldier. That defined a target is well within the capabilities of several different parts of the government, but it would be entirely self defeating. Using cyber capabilities to silence those with whom we disagree is exactly what privacy and civil liberties advocates fear most about the development of our cyber defenses.
Next week, the Heritage Foundation will host “Homeland Security 2010: The Future of Defending the Homeland.” This will be a week-long series of panels aimed at providing a good background for Congressional Staffers new to Homeland Security issues. Heritage did this last year, and it was an excellent event. I will be sitting on two of the panels – maritime security and cybersecurity. The panels are open to the public and all are welcome. I highly recommend it.
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