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Cybersecurity Is Finally Receiving National Attention- It Is Time

For Action That Matters

By Robert B. Dix, Jr.

When the White House advised that the President would be addressing the topic of
cybersecurity during his State of the Union address, it signaled a new national focus on the
growing and evolving risk environment around cybersecurity. Recent high profile data breaches
have contributed to a national and global concern about the capabilities of those with ill intent,
whether they are criminals, hacktivists, nation states, or even terrorists. When you add the
challenge of mobile device security and the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), it is
clearly time for more definitive action.

It is an important step to elevate the dialogue around cyber; however, the proposed legislative
and executive action offered by the Administration misses an opportunity to address a number
of issues that demand our collective attention.

We all agree about the need to improve the sharing of information from the government to the
private sector; from the private sector to government; from the private sector to others in the
private sector; and from government to government. However, information sharing in and of
itself should not be viewed as the ultimate objective. Rather, information sharing is a tool, an
important tool to achieve timely, reliable, and actionable situational awareness that is necessary
for stakeholders to make informed risk management decisions.

Effective and efficient information sharing must be accompanied by sufficient analysis to identify
patterns and trends of unusual, abnormal or even malicious behavior that will produce an
opportunity to issue alerts and warnings, and even recommended protective measures to
improve the detection, prevention, mitigation and response to cyber events that could become
incidents of national or even global consequence.

A joint, integrated, public – private operational capability for cyber-driven by information sharing,
analysis and collaboration is a key to improving our national security and resilience, while also
protecting privacy and civil liberties.

There are models currently in place that can teach us much about the value of such a capability.
For example, the National Weather Service has matured a capability that leverages
advancements in technology and science and relies on information sharing and analysis to
identify patterns and trends of abnormal, unusual and even dangerous weather activity. With
this information, it can issue alerts and warnings to communities and individuals that include
recommended protective measures. This is done in effort to improve detection, prevention,
mitigation, response and recovery, and provides advanced notice in the events of local, regional
and national consequence.

19 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – January 2015 Edition
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