Pandora's Blog

An editorial in the Washington Post caught my eye. The writer takes a very light look (trust me, tip of the berg) at national cyber-security and asks: where’s our Czar?

Well, we have nothing yet, but it seems that in a society where technology is the fastest growing industry – and pretty much the only one that is not bankrupt or wholeheartedly corrupt – maybe we should put this on the top of the list… up there with the economy, health and global warming.

True some of the others are more pressing in terms of our overall way of life… but every dingle day, millions of cyber attacks are made, both within and from outside our borders. Why is nothing being done as a cohesive nation to protect our citizens.

Well, don’t wait around for anyone to do anything. Parents need to be taking this one up on their own for a while… for the foreseeable future… and we have the perfect tool!!!

See: PC Pandora computer monitoring software. The perfect piece of software for peace of mind…

July 11, 2009
Securing the Internet
Recent cyber-attacks highlight the need for administration action.

WHERE IS our cyber-czar?

As recent attacks on government and private Web sites illustrate, cyber-security is a critical national issue. That’s why President Obama was right when he moved to create a high-ranking “cyber-czar” to guide the development of cyber-defense. Now, months later, there is work to be done, and there is still no one in place to do it. Mr. Obama’s initial notion of a dual-role coordinator reporting to the National Economic Council and the National Security Council may be the problem — its nebulous authority has scared off even top potential contenders. Attracting someone to this vital job may mean giving the czar clearer authority to monitor and coordinate security efforts that are spread across multiple agencies. But the need for someone to develop a coherent cyber-policy is pressing.

Thousands of cyber-attacks occur every day on private and public networks, jeopardizing the data of more than 280 million people last year. But Mr. Obama’s report on cyberspace policy found that “government is not organized to address this growing problem effectively now or in the future. Responsibilities for cyber-security are distributed across a wide array of federal departments and agencies, many with overlapping authorities, and none with sufficient decision authority.”

The lack of a guiding vision has implications beyond mere inefficiency. The nation’s cyber-defenses are being developed without any structure to guarantee transparency and accountability. So last month, when Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates created a consolidated military Cyber-Security Command, to be headed by the director of the National Security Agency, and this month, when a pilot program began expanding NSA technologies to protect civilian networks, these moves raised questions. Currently, cyber-defense responsibilities are split between the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department. But DHS cyber-defenders are becoming increasingly reliant on the capability developed at the Pentagon, a trend that will continue in the persistent absence of any better plan. If Americans don’t want the NSA to become the clearinghouse for all cyber-security issues — a responsibility Mr. Gates does not want, either — an alternative vision is needed, and soon.

When Mr. Obama first made cyber-security an administration priority, he promised to keep government defenses out of private networks. But the Internet is an interconnected series of networks, making it difficult to determine where private security threats end and public ones begin. To defend against attacks, it may become necessary for the public and private sectors to share information and strategies for dealing with threats. All the more reason to make someone accountable for striking the right balance between liberty, security and openness.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 11:59 AM and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.