[Infowarrior] - Fluffy Senator OpEd: How to make Internet more secure?

[Richard Forno]

How to make Internet more secure?
By: Sen. Susan Collins
March 7, 2011 04:31 AM EST
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=8D04D0B8-C317-34C2-12E4AFC419844EC8

The Internet is vital to virtually every facet of Americans’ daily lives and essential to the free flow of ideas and information. It has changed how we communicate with family and friends, how we exchange information, even how we bank and shop. As we have seen in the Middle East, the Internet has literally helped change the world. 

The Internet and our access to it must be protected to ensure both the reliability of its critical services and the availability of information. 

We must be mindful that the Internet is vulnerable to exploitation and attack. Those vulnerabilities increase every day as more and more activity finds its way onto cyberplatforms. 

Every month, an estimated 1.8 billion cyberattacks target the computer systems of Congress and executive branch agencies, according to the Senate’s sergeant at arms. The annual cost of cybercrime worldwide has climbed to more than $1 trillion — $8 billion annually in the United States. 

These dangers pose serious threats. Hackers could attack critical civilian infrastructures, like electric grids and transportation systems, harming whole regions. Our military assets are at risk, too. Adversaries have acquired thousands of files from U.S. networks as well as from U.S. allies and industry partners, including weapons blueprints and operational plans.

In fact, military officials now describe cyberspace as the fifth domain of war — in addition to land, sea, air and space. But cyberspace is unique, they note, because it is the only battlefield invented by humans. 

Clearly, the Internet must be made more secure, but in a manner that does not infringe on our constitutional rights to receive information and express views. 

Last year, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and I introduced legislation to strengthen the government’s efforts to safeguard U.S. cybernetworks from attack and prevent presidential overreach. That bill was unanimously approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. 

Last month, we introduced a new version with stronger, more explicit provisions that would prevent the president from ever shutting down the Internet. It would also provide an opportunity for judicial review of designations of our most sensitive systems and assets as “covered critical infrastructure.”

President Hosni Mubarak’s actions in January to shut down the Internet in Egypt were, and are, totally inappropriate. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right that must be protected, and his ban was clearly designed to limit criticism of or action against his government. 

Our bill would not only prevent such a shutdown but also would make America’s critical assets safer. 

Our bill would: 

• Establish a cybersecurity leader within the Department of Homeland Security who would have the authority to coordinate policy and to mandate protective measures across all federal civilian agencies. This leader would head a new National Cybersecurity Center — much like the National Counterterrorism Center — that would bring together expertise from across the federal government. 

• Promote information-sharing on cyber vulnerabilities and protective measures, distributing data to federal, state, local and tribal governments and private-sector stakeholders. 

• Create incentives for the private sector to develop cybersecurity “best practices,” with special focus on helping small businesses. 

• Provide specific authority to the National Cybersecurity Center — from a risk-based, collaborative model — to identify and mitigate cyber vulnerabilities, where disruptions could result in catastrophic loss of life and property. 

• Prevent the president or any official from shutting down the Internet. 

This legislation would help our nation be better equipped to anticipate, neutralize and build additional safeguards against cyberattacks. It would protect the ever-evolving frontier of cyberspace, which encompasses so much of modern life and will only grow in importance. 

If we don’t build adequate protections into our federal networks and critical infrastructure, malicious hackers — including nation-states and terrorist groups — are likely to exploit, attack and destroy them. As a nation, we must be prepared to aggressively, and proactively, meet this emerging global cyberthreat. 

We cannot afford to wait for a “cyber Sept. 11” before our government finally realizes the importance of protecting our digital resources, limiting our vulnerabilities and mitigating the consequences of penetrations of our networks. 

We must be ready. It is crucial that we build a strong public-private partnership to protect cyberspace. It is a vital engine of our economy, our government, our country and our future.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.