Cyber-Security Plan Counts on Private Sector's Input

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,861870,00.asp

By Dennis Fisher
February 4, 2003 

The forthcoming final version of the National Strategy to Secure
Cyberspace will call for a comprehensive cybersecurity response system
that will depend heavily on contributions from the private sector. The
system, as described in the most recent draft of the document, will
rely on a broad information-sharing program both inside and outside
the federal government, and calls for the establishment of a separate
office within the Department of Homeland Security to manage the
information flow between government and industry, according to copies
of the draft document reviewed by eWEEK.

To facilitate this process, the strategy also recommends that the
private sector develop one centralized network operations center "that
could operate 24x7 to assess Internet health [and] complement the
Department [of Homeland Security's] centralized capability and the
overall National Cyberspace Security Response System."

The strategy contemplates Homeland Security creating a "single point
of contact for the federal government's interaction with industry and
other partners" regarding major security incidents, information
sharing, analysis, warning and recovery efforts.

All of this would be coordinated by a new "infrastructure protection
program office" that would handle the two-way flow of data between the
private sector and the government, according to the draft plan. The
office would also be responsible for determining how to store
information regarding critical infrastructure protection that is
voluntarily submitted by non-government organizations.

Although the strategy repeatedly emphasizes the need to handle such
data carefully, it also recommends several measures that are sure to
draw the attention of privacy advocates and civil-liberties
organizations. Among the directives are a provision requiring the
Department of Justice to work with the Census Bureau to develop
"better data about the victims of cybercrime and intrusions."

While there is considerable space given to the need for reducing the
number of vulnerabilities in software products and in critical
protocols and systems such as BGP (border gateway protocol), the
Domain Name System and IP, the strategy makes little mention of how to
go about fixing these problems, a key shortcoming, security experts
say.

"As we move to wireless everywhere and universal Web-control of
appliances, if the government doesn't act quickly, millions of
unprotected systems will by made available to any attackers who choose
to use them," said Alan Paller, director of research at The SANS
Institute in Bethesda, Md. "It is unlikely that more than one million
are needed for a large-scale sustained DDoS attack that disables most
Internet traffic."

This most recent draft of the national strategy is considered to be
very similar to the final document that President Bush approved and
signed recently, according to sources familiar with the process. The
strategy is due for release within the next couple of weeks, although
no exact date has been announced.

The final version of the plan differs greatly from the preliminary
draft released for comment by the President's Critical Infrastructure
Protection Board in September under the direction of out-going PCIPB
director Richard Clarke.

The original draft was divided into five sections covering home users
and small businesses, large enterprises, critical sectors, national
priorities and global issues. The final version is organized along
five cyberspace security priorities: a national cyberspace security
response system, a national cyberspace security threat and
vulnerability reduction program, a national cyberspace security
awareness and training program, securing governments' cyberspace, and
international cyberspace security cooperation. Where the original
draft was heavy on recommendations and suggestions, the final version
uses much stronger language, in many cases issuing directives to
various government agencies.

The new document also removes much of the language in the original
draft that advocated using so-called market forces to pressure
software vendors to make their products more secure. Instead, it
recommends that "the software industry should consider promoting more
secure 'out-of-the-box' installation and implementations of their
products, including increasing user awareness of the security features
in products, ease-of-use for security functions and where feasible,
promotion of industry guidelines and best practices that support such
efforts."

Interestingly, the new version also includes a section discussing the
need for the United States to be able to respond to cybersecurity
events in kind.

"When a nation, terrorist group or other adversary attacks the United
States through cyberspace, the U.S. response need not be limited to
criminal prosecution," the strategy says. "The United States reserves
the right to respond in an appropriate manner, including through cyber
warfare. The United States will be prepared for such contingencies."

Officials of the PCIPB did not return calls seeking comment.



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.