I feel like a non-Ivy League version of Prof. Paul Krugman whenever I complain about the absence of a national plan for securing the Internet. I don't have the doctorate, but I have plenty of ideas that I want to share with the White House. And like Krugman, I often think the White House hasn't gone far enough or I resign myself to the fact that, without some terrible disaster to spur us into action, we'll never get the level of Internet security we need.
But this time I am impressed. If you haven't read Obama's Cyberspace Policy Review [pdf], then you probably don't know what I'm talking about. Regardless of your politics, this is easily the best mission statement on the subject I've ever seen. Kudos to the Office of the White House and all of the people involved in creating this document. I thought the U.S. government would never get it, but they do!
[ Keep abreast of IT security news by subscribing to InfoWorld's free Security Central newsletter. ]
Plan of action
You don't have to read all 76 pages to get the picture. The Executive Summary and the Near-Term Action Plan at the beginning of the document are enough to tell you that this isn't your father's Internet security plan.
I'm so used to government failures (see CAN-SPAM Act or the multitude of Data Protection Act attempts) that I just assumed the government would never get on the right page until we came face to face with overwhelming cyber destruction. One-third of U.S. adults have had their credit card or online identity stolen. No one bats an eye when 1 million identities are stolen in a single online heist -- it isn't even news anymore. One-half of home PCs are infected by malware each year, and Web sites are compromised by the tens of thousands each night. Legitimate Web sites (e.g. www.foxnews.com) are often the ones (inadvertently) hosting the worst malware. Foreign hackers are infiltrating protected government networks like they are Swiss cheese, and the most popular social Web sites are hotbeds of malicious activity. Corporate espionage is almost a norm. Paris Hilton's smartphone is compromised seemingly every week, and the latest revealing photos struggle to find space on the already crowded pages of TMZ. How bad did it need to get before we tried something different?
Obama and his administration have responded, and I applaud them. The Cyberspace Policy Review is a great start.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »But don't quit your day job here at Infoworld.com -- we need your ongoing insights and advice.
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
972 Recommendations
