The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS)

The Center for Education and Research in
Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS)

Odds & Ends

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Cyber Leap Year Summit

I've heard from many, many people who read my blog post about this. So far, everyone who attended and was not involved with the planning of the Summit has basically agreed with my comments.

Here is an interesting post by Russ Thomas that explores the NCLY in depth from a different point of view.

Cybersecurity Legislation

There has been considerable press coverage and discussion on the intertubes about the provision in S. 773 (see my earlier post) that would allow the President to shut down critical infrastructure networks in the event of a national emergency. The people worried about the black helicopters are sure this, coupled with attempts to pass health care, are a sure sign of the Apocalypse -- or the approach of the end of the world in 2012, whichever comes first. Far less attention has been paid to other troubling aspects of the bill, such as the troubling requirement for professional certification of cyber security personnel.

According to some of the experts I have talked with, the President already has this general authority from other legislation. This simply makes it explicit. Furthermore, if we're in a declared national emergency wouldn't a centralized, coordinated response make sense? If not centered at the White House, then where else?

The bill is still in revision, although a draft of an amended version has been circulated to some groups for comment. I have been told that it is unlikely to move forward until after health care reform has been resuscitated or pronounced dead, and after the annual Federal budget appropriations process is finished. So, there may be additional issues betwixt now and then.

9/11 Comments

I wrote something in my personal blog about my 9/11 memories. It isn't really related to cyber security or Purdue, but some of my comments might be interesting to some people.

Other blog

In addition to my personal blog cited above, I also maintain a Tumbler blog with pointers to recent news items that relate to security, privacy and cyber law. It is available as <http://blog.spaf.us> (my part of the overall CERIAS blog (here) can be accessed as <http://cblog.spaf.us>). I generally post links there every day.

A Snapshot

I spent several days this week in DC, visiting officials and agencies related to cyber security. I get the sense that there is little expectation of more funding or attention in the coming fiscal year. The administration has been undergoing a bruising battle over health care, there is yet to be debate on policy for Afghanistan, and there are background engagements in constant play on issues related to the deficit. Cyber is not likely to be viewed as critical because things seem to have been going "okay" so far, and addressing cyber will be costly and require political capital. So, unless there is some splashy disaster, we might not see much progress.

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