Proposed bill would create National Cybersecurity Advisor
By Nilay Patel 
posted April 6th 2009 1:43PM
posted April 6th 2009 1:43PM
It hasn't gotten a lot of traction yet, but Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe have jointly introduced a bill that would create an Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, a new White House position designed to beef up the nation's information security policies. The new office goes hand-in-hand with the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, another proposed bill that would create an entire panel of security experts brought in from the government, private sector, and universities. All together, the two pieces of legislation would require that government networks and software meet a set of security standards and vulnerability tests -- and, more controversially, that private networks deemed "critical infrastructure" by the President meet these standards as well. What's more, El Presidente can order the disconnection of those networks during a "cybersecurity emergency" or national security emergency if needed, and security professionals will need to be licensed by the government to work on them. Yeah, it's a long way from BlackBerrys loaded with presidential campaign information being sold at yard sales, but we'd bet some of these ideas get tamer as the bill moves through the process -- we'll see how it goes.
I, too, nominate xkcd's Black Hat Guy for NCA!
Vote 1 - Bruce Schneier for NCA
"require that government networks and software meet a set of security standards and vulnerability tests"
Sweet, maybe they'll start dumping IE6 finally.
No friggin way should this pass just for the fact that Rockefeller is attached to it.
I can manage my own f'ing network. Go fix the budget, bring our troops home and shut up!
A lot of you people seem not to have read the entire article. They aren't trying to get in to your own little household network to listen in on what you guys are downloading daily, they're trying to:
A. Secure Government Networks- This is important because we don't want any opposing power, and probably most friendly powers, being able to sniff every packet that goes across a network. Also, depending on the organization, massive amounts of personal information is transferred over government networks, I would prefer that information remain secure.
B. Set Standards for Security- Notice, it's not for EVERY NETWORK, just for the government networks, and private networks that act as critical infrastructure (AKA The backbone). Standards are ALWAYS a good thing, like USB 2.0, 802.11g, or IEEE1394. It makes communicating issues, requirements, and resolving things so much simpler when everyone speaks the same way. It would ensure that not only is the DL office I submit my information to is secure, but also that it remains secure over not only the office network, but across the Internet until it reaches it's destination.
C. The government should have LIMITED control over the Internets backbone. I'm not saying something like being able to disconnect China from the internet, or vice versa, but able to ensure the government can get to and repair the backbone in emergencies, or commandeer a PORTION of the bandwidth for emergency communications, kind of like if a cop needed a phone because he lost his, and asks someone to borrow theirs for the duration of a crisis. It's not unreasonable.
The Government doesn't care what you get off to, as long as it isn't illegal. It doesn't care what you download with LimeWire, because they have bigger things to deal with than some 14 year old getting music. If the RIAA catches you, then the Government is more than happy to help, but they aren't going to pull the trigger,
I hope Obama will shut down all pedophile sites/providers.it's about time & they are private.
If there's one thing this Nation needs, it's more government control and oversight of the population. After all, who can better be our shepherd and Father, other than the Feds?
http://www.savetheinternet.com
i dont like it, this will lead to the government deeming what is okay to view, or show on the internet.
http://www.savetheinternet.com
cybersecurity has always been a huge issue and its becoming a bigger issue due to 2 things, 1) everything is going digital, you shop, bank, social networking and now with the popularity of smart phones you can do everything on your phone now, we are becoming a digital society 2) with the hard economic times, there is huge rise in identity theft and online scams. advancement in technology is growing exponetially and all of a sudden we have been thrusted into this digital society. and because we moved so fast into this society, we havent properly developed "digital smarts" and we become easy prey to cyberthreats. we really need to be educated and know what types of easy everyday preventative measures we can do to protect ourselves. i have been using this free digital security resource site called www.justaskgemalto.com. its kinda like the Wed MD for digital security, there is a lot of information and the site gives good decent tips.