Released earlier this year, the National Strategy for Homeland Security is designed to protect us from terrorism in the United States on Federal, State, local and private levels. Accordingly, the President has now implemented a strategy for the protection of cyberspace, which is essential to defense and economic security, as well as critical infrastructures. The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, which supports both the National Strategy for Homeland Security and the National Security Strategy of the United States, promotes secure U.S. information systems and protects against malicious attacks in cyberspace.

The report points out that a week following the physical attack on the World Trade Center, another devastating attack took place several blocks away in the financial district of Manhattan. The NIMDA virus, a blend of a worm and a virus, was a wake up call for a nation that is completely dependent on computers. Within a matter of hours, it had attacked 86,000 computers and the government estimated it caused as much as $13 million in damage.

As much as we would like to hope the NIMDA virus attack was an isolated event, the fact is that cyber attacks are mushrooming into a serious problem. Carnegie Mellon University’s Computer Emergency Response Team’s (CERT) Coordination Center reports that in 2002, there will have been approximately 110,000 cyber attacks in comparison to only 3,700 in 1998. For that reason, the government has decided to proactively fight this trend.

The following points were steps the government has vowed to take in fighting cyber attacks:

• Raising awareness
• Sharing information about vulnerabilities and solutions
• Fostering partnerships with and among private sector groups, and others
• Stimulating improvements in technology
• Increasing the number of skilled personnel
• Investigating and prosecuting cybercrime
• Protecting Federal computers; and
• Promoting increased security for the networks upon which the economy and national security depend.

The report emphasized that the government alone cannot secure cyberspace and said “reducing (the) risk requires an active, unprecedented, partnership among diverse components of our global partners.” It goes on to say that the government should not intrude into the private sector – homes, small businesses, banks, etc. – in order to secure computing environments. In essence, the report is a call to action for all of us to take responsibility to protect ourselves as a nation from cyber attacks. The more secure the nation’s computers are as a whole, the safer we’ll all be.

The report includes the following six “empowerment tools” for Americans to do their part in protecting cyberspace.

1. Awareness and Information: Educate and create awareness
among users and owners of cyberspace of the risks and
vulnerabilities of their system and the means to mitigate
these risks.

2. Technology and Tools: Produce new and more secure technologies,
implement those technologies more quickly, and
produce current technologies in a more secure way.

3. Training and Education: Develop a large and well-qualified
cybersecurity workforce to meet the needs of industry and
government, and to innovate and advance the nation’s security
capabilities.

4. Roles and Partnerships: Foster responsibility
of individuals, enterprises, and sectors for security
at all levels through the use of market forces,
education and volunteer efforts, public-private
partnerships, and, in the last resort, through regulation
or legislation.

5. Federal Leadership: Improve Federal cybersecurity
to make it a model for other sectors by increasing accountability;
implementing best practices; expanding the use of automated tools to
continuously test, monitor, and update security practices;
procuring secure and certified products and services; implementing
leading-edge training and workforce development; and deterring and
preventing cyber attacks.

6. Coordination and Crisis Management:
Develop early warning and efficient sharing of information both within
and between public and private sectors so that attacks are detected quickly
and responded to efficiently.

The strategy breaks down into levels – from the home user/small business to global use. Some or all six levels may be employed at each level. Next month, our lead article will go over Level 1, “The Home User and Small Business,” and recommend how we can protect ourselves and the nation from cyber terrorism. Stay tuned . . .

How Cebic Technologies Inc. Can Help

Cebic Technologies Inc. provides affordable, real-time IT management for small businesses. Cebic helps to establish and maintain healthy, secure computer networks by providing computer system management, real-time diagnostics, virus/intrusion protection, emergency support and strategic IT planning.

Remote Intelligence™ is a service sold by Hybinette’s sister company, Cebic Technologies Inc. For more information on how you can protect your business, please visit www.cebic.com or call us 303-987-3679.

Source: National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, U.S. Government – Department of Homeland Security, September 2002.