A Two-Pronged Approach To Cybersecurity
Amit Yoran, who was recently appointed director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, plans to bolster the security of the United States and its cyberinfrastructure during his tenure.
He believes that cyberterrorism is something people must always be aware of, and sees little difference between safeguards used to thwart cyberterrorists and those used to shield against other threats.
Yoran advocates a two-pronged strategy to combat outbreaks of worms and viruses such as Code Red, Slammer, and Nimda. The first part of the approach involves implementing long-term projects such as the improvement of software engineering and the invention of better software development processes, and the second part is the pursuit of short-term objectives such as boosting cybersecurity awareness, and improving the national response system and coordination with critical infrastructures.
Yoran says the key players in this effort–critical infrastructure owners, software developers, and the system operators–can receive government advice, guidance, and aid through a secure communications infrastructure.
Although Yoran says the level of security called for by the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace has yet to be reached, he has been encouraged by what he has seen in his first months in office, as well as the private sector’s enthusiasm to contribute to the cybersecurity effort.
He notes that the National Strategy cannot succeed without coordinated public-private collaboration. How the country can better deal with future cyberattacks will be the focus of a talk Yoran will give in Silicon Valley this week.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from CNet (12/01/03); Lemos, Robert.