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 Opinion: A call to action for the IT community 
by Marcia J. Wilson, CCSP Staff Writer
March 11,
2004
"Reprinted from March 18, 2K3"
by Marcia J. Wilson
The National Strategy to Secure
Cyberspace, released in February, is a call to action for all Americans.
There has been a lot of moaning and groaning about it, but I think people are
missing the point. It does not contain specific security-related templates that
if applied will assure security for the hundreds of thousands of interconnected
computers, servers, routers, switches and fiber-optic cables that make up
cyberspace. It is a strategy, an admission of criticality, a call to arms and an
offer of partnership between the private and public sectors of our country.
With military action against Iraq underway, the nation placed on Level Orange
alert (see
story) and warnings of more hacking activity against U.S. Web sites, taking
action is more important than ever.
I'm a capitalist and a government minimalist, meaning that I do not believe
it is the government's job to solve all our problems. It is the government's job
to support and defend our individual efforts in bringing about positive change
for whatever problems exist. For instance, we don't currently have a mandatory
draft into the armed services. Our troops are all individuals who have
voluntarily offered their lives to defend and protect our country. These brave
individuals are not "the government"; they are "the people." The draft situation
may change, but for now, "We, the people of the United States ..." are together
protecting our country.
My point of view runs as a theme throughout my life. I do not think it's the
government's responsibility to get me a job, feed my children, educate me, pay
for my health care or, conversely, tell me what to do with my life. Those things
are my responsibility.
It is also my responsibility to reach out to the less fortunate around me,
drive safely on the freeway, pick up after myself, care for the world in which I
live as best I can and secure my little corner of cyberspace. This is not a
Pollyanish point of view from a middle-class white girl. It is a life view with
a philosophy that can be put into action and make a difference.
If each of us cared for ourselves and helped to care for the less fortunate
in our communities, we would not need the government to provide for those
people, and guess what—we wouldn't be hating tax season. If we would all stop
being so self-centered and pointing the finger at someone else (i.e., the
federal government), we could actually make progress as a society instead of
further regressing into the mud puddle of stagnation that affluence creates.
If
these are the strategic objectives of this "implementing component" of the
National Strategy for Homeland Security, then we the people are the responsible
parties for
- Preventing cyberattacks against America's critical infrastructures.
- Reducing national vulnerability to cyberattacks.
- Minimizing damage and recovery time from cyberattacks that do occur.
The Department of Homeland Security came into being when President
Bush signed legislation creating it on Nov. 25, 2002. The new department has a
gargantuan task of uniting 22 federal entities for the purpose of improving our
homeland security. Sept. 11, 2001, was a wake-up call, and the uniting of these
entities is something that has to happen to improve coordination, communication
and collaboration. The president could've called it The Department of
WeScrewedUpAndNeedToFixIt and it would've meant the same thing. We have a
problem. It's huge. We need to fix it. Together.
The Partnership for Critical
Infrastructure Security provides a way for the private sector to give input
and provide plans for securing their parts of cyberspace. Click on the links
below to download PDFs and find out what your sector has done and
recommends:
Another way to get involved is to contact
the "Coordinating Agency" for the major sector of the economy you work in:
I, for one, am glad the National
Strategy to Secure Cyberspace lacks advice and regulation. We don't need more
regulation. We need to get involved and hold people accountable. We the people
need to understand the issues and be empowered to solve them.
I would suggest that each individual, each family unit, each corporate entity
get on the ball and take full responsibility for securing cyberspace, one
section at a time. It is absolutely impossible for the government to take this
on alone. Or we can all sit back, pay more taxes and hire people to spy on us,
support the invasion of personal privacy and property, and then blame the
federal government for not protecting our civil liberties. When re-election time
comes around, we can make those politicians pay by ousting them. We the people
of the United States ...
And this is where some of you techies are wishing I had discussed DNS, IP and
BGP. Instead you got an eyeful of God bless America!
*Note: Some links to stories may no longer function or now require you to register to view.
by
Marcia J. Wilson ComputerCops Staff Writer
Marcia J. Wilson holds the CISSP designation and is the founder and CEO of
Wilson Secure LLC , a company focused
on providing independent network security auditing and risk analysis. She can be
reached at marcia@wilsonsecure.com.
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