Is Cybersecurity Policy Advancing?
The government has this year what it didn't a year ago: a person to lead its cybersecurity policy making efforts, or at least be a public face -- a throat to choke, if you're a glass-half-empty type -- to address those efforts. That's former Microsoft security chief Howard Schmidt, who brings his 31 years of experience in IT, law enforcement and the military to the role of cybersecurity coordinator, which he was named in December 2009.
While some observers see the advance of cybersecurity policy as continually stalled, others suggest that by fostering inter-agency cooperation within the government and collaborating with IT security companies, progress could be more rapid.
"There is a very real operational requirement to defend the networks," said FedSources' Bjorklund. "But relatively speaking it's not a big piece of the total pie. There's always a lot of buzz, but we've yet to reach a point where there's a coordinated and consolidated solution that involves civilian agencies working with the Department of Defense. There's a lot of good thinking along those lines, but when it gets to the point where we can execute judicious attacks on threats, there'll be a much bigger demand for cybersecurity."
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