So cybersecurity is becoming more and more of a sexy topic these days.

According to the CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, there are a variety of internet security threats we should worry about. Denial of service attacks, identity theft, etc.
http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/081028_threats_working_group.pdf

I am sure they are right that these threats exist, but I am not exactly sure what role there is for government to help in the. I know there are a lot of CSC majors on here, so could someone help me out? Are there are any major information security problems the government could help to solve?

[Edited on July 14, 2010 at 12:02 AM. Reason : ``]

7/14/2010 12:00:33 AM

Are you asking in the context of gov. computers, or to just computers in general?

Obviously they need to protect their own servers/networks. But there's not much that can be done, i don't think, to protect us all. The Internet thrives on freedom of communication, so there's never going to be a fool-proof way to seal up all vectors of attacks... it used to be just viewing an image formatted a certain way caused problems, but you can get compromised through flash, PDFs, and who knows what bigs lie in HTML5 engines.

7/14/2010 12:13:20 AM

pad ciphers

7/14/2010 1:01:32 AM

I'll admit that my knowledge of computers is limited, but from what I can gather it seems that the best way for the government to act is not so much to provide direct security -- as moron said, it would be nigh on impossible outside of the government's own equipment -- but to use the dual threats of punishment and reciprocation to keep others in line.

It is in some ways analogous to nuclear weapons. It's not that hard for a foreign government to get the tools to fuck with American computers. Likewise there are several places that have the bomb. But, if you use that shit, we will use it right back.

7/14/2010 4:03:23 AM

I think government can help by continuing to invest in cybersecurity research, especially at the theoretical level. This will help groom and sustain a pool of security talent that can then go out and create real solutions.

7/14/2010 10:27:51 AM

Is intellectual "property" worth dying over?

7/14/2010 10:52:07 AM

No, but IP is only a small part of entire cybersecurity issue.

7/14/2010 4:36:16 PM

The biggest threat to civilian computer security IS the government.

7/14/2010 8:26:45 PM

^

7/14/2010 8:29:38 PM

Quote :

"It is in some ways analogous to nuclear weapons. It's not that hard for a foreign government to get the tools to fuck with American computers. Likewise there are several places that have the bomb. But, if you use that shit, we will use it right back. "

that defense doesn't work when the attacker is an individual and not a nation. A couple of terrorists with the right training could cause severe disruptions to our nations power grid, and we wouldn't be able to do shit back to them. What are we going to do, shut down the 4 computers in Afghanistan?

7/14/2010 9:13:45 PM

No but we might use the opportunity to eliminate the websites of our political opponents and jail dissidents that we conveniently label "hackers". A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

[Edited on July 14, 2010 at 9:41 PM. Reason : Almost forgot, Death to America....and an extra little Death to America for ^^^]

7/14/2010 9:40:37 PM