A Cyber World w/ Cyber Threats!

[PoliticalChic]

Cyber security is a major and ever-increasing problem....and the main block to solution is the insane view that politicians are experts.

With the ascendancy of big government socialism, we have seen business and the free market take a back seat to a command-and-control philosophy....to our detriment.



More than ever, there is a Need For Government/Business Cooperation

In no other venue is the fact of a boundary-less world more obvious than in cyber. Here is a darn good explanation of the state of things, from Securityweek....




1. "Disruptive Concepts for Public-Private Partnership and Cyber Intelligence Fusion

2. ... a secure and stable cyberspace is a critical component of national security, economic prosperity and desirable civic policies that educate, enfranchise and empower the body politic.



3. ... the annual costs of cybercrime in the United States (U.S.) exceed $120 billion annually, with global costs as high as $1 trillion..... those numbers fail to include national security impacts (remember the WikiLeaks debacle and Private Manning?) or future economic growth as nations bleed out the intellectual property that is vital for innovation and economic growth.

4. Historically, when faced with problems of this magnitude that cut across the societal spectrum, we look to the Federal government for solutions as it had the unique ability to bring forth both unparalleled resources and expertise not normally found in industry to solve problems.
Unfortunately, the cyber problem differs in both scale and character.

5. ... when it comes to the locus of solution expertise...., expertise and knowledge necessary for an effective solution resides largely in the private sector. Complicating matters further, many centers of cyber-expertise are outside the United States.

6. .... by its nature, is geospatially agnostic means that we have to think about the solution space differently. Since cyber cuts across all vertical and horizontal boundaries, any solution to the cyber problem must be approached in a holistic manner that fuses technical, political, social and economic intelligence into a common situational and operational picture that enfranchises all stakeholders and enables them to become part of the solution.





7. ... we must reach an understanding of the need for a robust public-private partnership and a common vision for achieving them. Government has resources and a mandate.

Private industry has the expertise and the ability to innovate rapidly and with agility..... What’s necessary and required for the generation of this most essential public-private enterprise is a convergence of vision and a spirit of willing cooperation.





8. Cyber is ubiquitous, and as such is not simply a technical problem that can be solved with a Manhattan Project-like firehose of funding and sequestration of brilliant technical minds in a remote location.

9. .... perspectives from across the spectrum must be sought and valued, and correlated and fused into a cohesive cyber picture that enables collective sense-making for a broad, pluralistic community. This lens starts with what we call today “cyber-threat intelligence.”

10. ... cyber-threat intelligence will take on more of an “all-source” character and provide insight into “why,” “who,” “when” and “where,” in addition to the technical “how.”

.... will require acceptance of new paradigms in both how public-private partnerships are managed and maintained and the breadth of scope with which the cyber problem is viewed."
http://www.securityweek.com/disrupt...ate-partnership-and-cyber-intelligence-fusion






I hope this concept has legs.....and politicians, who think they are expert in everyone else's business, understand the dimensions involved here.

Going forward, this should not be left in the hands of the 'you didn't build that' folks who can hardly manage the Post Office.

 

[whitehall]

One of the problems is the inherent government bureaucratic system that encourages mediocrity. Government drones create the US cyber system and maintain it with often outdated equipment purchased by other government drones based on the lowest bid. I don't have a solution but it's inevitable that some warped genius outside the system will crack government cyber stuff. The private sector hires on the basis of skill and motivation and they update hardware without going through the miles of government red tape.

 

[PoliticalChic]

One of the problems is the inherent government bureaucratic system that encourages mediocrity. Government drones create the US cyber system and maintain it with often outdated equipment purchased by other government drones based on the lowest bid. I don't have a solution but it's inevitable that some warped genius outside the system will crack government cyber stuff. The private sector hires on the basis of skill and motivation and they update hardware without going through the miles of government red tape.

You've outlined exactly what my worry is, too.

 

[waltky]

Somebody asleep at the wheel...

Security contractor breach not detected for months
November 3, 2014 ~ A cyberattack similar to previous hacker intrusions from China penetrated computer networks for months at USIS, the government's leading security clearance contractor, before the company noticed, officials and others familiar with an FBI investigation and related official inquiries told The Associated Press.

The breach, first revealed by the company and government agencies in August, compromised the private records of at least 25,000 employees at the Homeland Security Department and cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost government contracts. In addition to trying to identify the perpetrators and evaluate the scale of the stolen material, the government inquiries have prompted concerns about why computer detection alarms inside the company failed to quickly notice the hackers and whether federal agencies that hired the company should have monitored its practices more closely.

Former employees of the firm, U.S. Investigations Services LLC, also have raised questions about why the company and the government failed to ensure that outdated background reports containing personal data weren't regularly purged from the company's computers. Details about the investigation and related inquiries were described by federal officials and others familiar with the case. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the continuing criminal investigation, the others because of concerns about possible litigation.

A computer forensics analysis by consultants hired by the company's lawyers defended USIS' handling of the breach, noting it was the firm that reported the incident. The analysis said government agencies regularly reviewed and approved the firm's early warning system. In the analysis, submitted to federal officials in September and obtained by the AP, the consultants criticized the government's decision in August to indefinitely halt the firm's background investigations.

USIS reported the cyberattack to federal authorities on June 5, more than two months before acknowledging it publicly. The attack had hallmarks similar to past intrusions by Chinese hackers, according to people familiar with the investigation. Last March, hackers traced to China were reported to have penetrated computers at the Office of Personnel Management, the federal agency that oversees most background investigations of government workers and has contracted extensively with USIS. In a brief interview, Joseph Demarest, assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, described the hack against USIS as "sophisticated" but said "we're still working through that as well." He added: "There is some attribution" as to who was responsible, but he declined to comment further.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Gonna work out a cyber code of conduct...

U.S., Chinese officials meet on cyber security issues: White House
Sat Sep 12, 2015 | WASHINGTON - Senior U.S. and Chinese officials concluded four days of meetings on Saturday on cyber security and other issues, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington later this month, the White House said.

Cyber security has been a divisive issue between Washington and Beijing, with the United States accusing Chinese hackers of attacks on U.S. computers, a charge China denies. U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice had a "frank and open exchange about cyber issues" in her meeting this week with Meng Jianzhu, secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, the White House said in a statement.

The Chinese delegation also had meetings with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and representatives from the Justice, State and Treasury departments and the intelligence community, the statement said. China's official Xinhua news agency said that Meng, who is the country's domestic security chief, had reached "important consensus" with the U.S. during his visit.

A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw

Both countries agree it is "vital" they cooperate on fighting hacking, Meng said, adding that China will punish anyone who hacks from within China's borders or steals corporate secrets. "China's position on opposing hacking and stealing commercial secrets online is resolute," Xinhua cited Meng as saying. President Barack Obama said last month he would raise concerns about China's cyber security behavior when he meets with Xi in Washington.

The Obama administration is considering targeted sanctions against Chinese individuals and companies for cyber attacks against U.S. commercial targets, several U.S. officials have said. Chinese hackers have also been implicated in the massive hacking of the U.S. government's personnel office disclosed this year. Two breaches of security clearance applications exposed the personal data of more than 20 million federal employees.

U.S., Chinese officials meet on cyber security issues: White House