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June 26, 2009

White House Announces Cyber Security Plan

By Kennedy Maize

The Obama administration in late May announced a major initiative to protect electronic communications networks, including the electric power supply grid, from terrorist attacks. The intent of the initiative, the administration said, is to guard vital electronic networks from attack, while still preserving the essential privacy of users. Critics have suggested that the new cyber security plan is long on goals but short on specifics.

According to several analysts, the administration’s objectives are going to be difficult to reconcile among each other. Protecting privacy, securing communications against attack, and identifying culprits could involve essential conflicts. President Obama didn’t discuss the details of his plan, other than to say that he will appoint a “cyber security czar” in the White House to report directly to him on the issue.

Obama also revealed that his presidential campaign had been a target of hackers. “Between August and October,” he said, “hackers gained access to e-mails and a range of campaign files, from policy positions to travel plans. It was a powerful reminder: in this information age, one of your greatest strengths—in our case, our ability to communicate to a wide range of supporters through the Internet—could also be one of your greatest vulnerabilities.”

In conjunction with Obama’s statement, the White House released its long-awaited Cyberspace Policy Review (PDF), laying out the new administration’s views of how to deal with the threat of electronic warfare against key infrastructure, including the electric transmission and distribution grid. The review concludes, “The architecture of the nation’s digital infrastructure, based largely upon the Internet, is not secure or resilient. Without major advances in the security of these systems or significant change in how they are constructed or operated, it is doubtful that the United States can protect itself from the growing threat of cybercrime and state-sponsored intrusions and operations. Our digital infrastructure has already suffered intrusions that have allowed criminals to steal hundreds of millions of dollars and nation-states and other entities to steal intellectual property and sensitive military information.”