cyber security

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper states information regarding cyber attacks that have been increasing in recent years. As the cyber dependencies keep growing with Operational Technology, SCADA, ICS, and even IoT the attack surface increases, therefore, more vulnerability. One main take away from the reading is the urge to get more people the right training and skills, and to unify a channel of communication to combat against cyber threats. This is something that I agree with and has been a point of discussion with other peers as well.  With recent attacks in the past years alone, the awareness level has increased and cybersecurity is becoming a big entity in organizations. One tool or framework that aids in this fight is NIST CSF, CSF is a framework created to protect critical infrastructure in any sector, this aids in the collaboration between federal agencies and the private sector in protecting critical infrastructure.

There are other great examples of such collaboration, like Homelands Security National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) collaboration with the private sector to investigate attacks such as Stuxnet worm as described by Kaijankoski. (2015).  In his thesis, he also describes a similar approach taken by military entities known as U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM). This approach can be established between federal agencies and private sectors keeping some of the limitations in classified information in mind.

Kaijankoski, E. (2015). CYBERSECURITY INFORMATION SHARING BETWEEN PUBLIC-PRIVATE SECTOR AGENCIES. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. Retrieved from https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a620766.pdf

Boyd, A. (2016, February 4). DNI Clapper: Cyber Bigger Threat than Terrorism. Retrieved from https://www.federaltimes.com/management/2016/02/04/dni-clapper-cyber-bigger-threat-than-terrorism