Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano said today that the federal government is stepping up its efforts to protect Americans from increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. It will do so by preparing to prevent and preempt attacks, without compromising privacy, she said.
She said she met hockey star Wayne Gretzky during the recent final game for the Gold Medal in hockey at the Olympics, and she recalled how he said that he doesn't skate to where the puck is, but where it will be. The same applies for anticipating cyber attacks.
Under President Obama, protection of the nation's cyber infrastructure is viewed as both an issue of national and economic security, Napolitano said in a speech at the RSA security conference in San Francisco today. Her speech follows one yesterday by Howard Schmidt, the new White House national cybersecurity coordinator.
"We don't live in a static world," she said. "We have to evolve to deal with the threats."
The federal government's goal is to protect cyberspace, making it safe and secure and encouraging cyber security knowledge and innovation. It is working with private industries to protect infrastructure of the Internet that is owned by both federal and private parties.
One project is Einstein, an effort to protect federal agencies. Basic protection has been added under Einstein, but now the government is moving on to the idea of preventing attacks before they can happen. The effort mirrors attempts to anticipate terrorist attacks to head off the cyber equivalent of 9/11.
Napolitano said that the government is also reviewing the resiliency of networks to make sure that, if there are attacks, they can't take down all of the network and that recovery can be quick. She said the collaborative work is happening, but was short on the details.
"We want to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security has the legal authority and financial resources to act and retain the top talent that it needs," she said. "We have to make the system writ large, safe and secure."
She asked the conference attendees to redouble efforts to increase security and improve their products so that the security is automatic and the reaction to attacks can happen at Internet speed. She wants the industry to make interoperable products and privacy-enhancing authentication. And she called for the industry to increase public awareness and set up a competition to do so. The DHS National Cyber Challenge contest closes on April 30 and details are on the DHS web site. The investment in this educational campaign will be big; Napolitano compared it to the scale of campaigns to stop smoking and prevent forest fires via Smoky the Bear.