Cyber Plan Hitting Home

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,882142,00.asp

By Dennis Fisher
February 10, 2003 

When the final version of President Bush's cyber-security plan is 
released later this month, its success, in large part, will hinge on 
the willingness of industry to buy in to the plan's recommendations.

The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace depends heavily on network 
operators and industry groups sharing with the government information 
on network attacks, security threats and widespread vulnerabilities. 
While similar efforts in the past have failed, some industry insiders 
say there is reason to believe that this time may be different.

"The strategy is being accepted within the government," said Pete 
Morrison, director of the public sector at security vendor Netegrity 
Inc., in Waltham, Mass. "I've seen a new awareness inside the 
government, and I think when people see that, they [will be] more 
willing to take it seriously and help with information."

The centerpiece of the strategy, draft copies of which were reviewed 
by eWeek last week, is a comprehensive cyber-security response system 
that relies on contributions from the private sector. The system would 
utilize a broad information-sharing program both inside and outside 
the federal government, facilitated by a separate office within the 
Department of Homeland Security, which the plan also calls for.

The "infrastructure protection program office," as referred to in the 
draft, would handle the flow of data between the private sector and 
the government. The office would also be responsible for determining 
how to store information regarding critical infrastructure protection 
that is voluntarily submitted by nongovernment organizations.

The strategy also recommends that the private sector develop a 
centralized network operations center "that could operate 24-by-7, to 
assess Internet health [and] complement the Department [of Homeland 
Security's] centralized capability and the overall National Cyberspace 
Security Response System," the draft reads.

This latest draft is very similar to the final document President Bush 
approved and signed late last month, according to sources familiar 
with the process. However, this final version differs greatly from the 
preliminary draft released for comment by the President's Critical 
Infrastructure Protection Board in September under the direction of 
outgoing PCIPB Chairman Richard Clarke.

That original draft was divided into five sections - covering home
users and small businesses, large enterprises, critical sectors,
national priorities, and global issues. The final version is organized
along five priorities - a national cyberspace security response
system, a national cyberspace security threat and vulnerability
reduction program, a national cyberspace security awareness and
training program, securing governments' cyberspace, and international
cyberspace security cooperation.

And where the original draft was heavy on recommendations and 
suggestions, the final version uses much stronger language, in many 
cases issuing directives to various government agencies.

Still, the core of the new plan is cooperation and information 
sharing - both sensitive subjects for the private sector. Past 
information-sharing concepts, not sponsored by the government, have 
centered on organizations such as the industry-specific Information 
Sharing and Analysis Centers and the FBI's InfraGard. However, these 
and other plans have lacked a good definition of the kind of data the 
government needs and how it's going to be handled once it's submitted. 
As such, security experts say this time around, the government would 
do well to make such distinctions.

"Sharing information [on vulnerabilities] reveals nothing that would 
make a company look bad in front of its customers," said Stuart 
Schechter, a security researcher at Harvard University, in Cambridge, 
Mass., and co-author of a paper on the benefits of information 
sharing. "Even revealing that you've seen a vulnerability exploited 
doesn't reveal that this has resulted in a successful attack. Better 
statistics on just how many systems are broken into because systems 
aren't patched would be nice to know - but most of us know where these 
systems fail. Better numbers on losses from attacks would certainly be 
useful."

However, some security experts are pessimistic about the chances for 
widespread cooperation.

"History has shown that unless they're forced to, people won't reveal 
any information, for obvious reasons," said Avi Rubin, associate 
professor of computer science and technical director of the 
Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, in 
Baltimore. "On the other hand, we still don't have good protective 
measures yet. They need to allocate more funding to research. They 
should let those of us who know what we're doing do it."


KEY DETAILS OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY

* Establishment of an infrastructure protection office for data 
  sharing 

* Recommendation that the private sector establish a central network 
  operations center to gather security data 

* Language reserving the government's right to conduct cyber-warfare 
  operations if attacked online 

* Recommendation that software vendors make their products more 
  secure out of the box



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