Putnam: Tighten cybersecurity or face legislation

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

The White House's year-old National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace is 'useful as a paperweight,' but that's about all.

The White House's year-old National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace is 'useful as a paperweight,' but that's about all.That's the contention of James Lewis of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, who spoke last week at a Capitol Hill forum about the government's role in cybersecurity.Calling the strategy too diffuse, Lewis said critical U.S. infrastructures such as electricity, telecommunications and finance 'are national in scale and need the feds to make sure they will keep working' in the face of terrorism and natural disasters.Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) acknowledged that cybersecurity legislation is 'on temporary hold.' But the chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census warned that 'software patching is too difficult and time-consuming. A zero-day exploit is not far around the corner.' He predicted an attack in the not-too-distant future could take down networks worldwide within hours of the discovery of a new software vulnerability.If the corporate world fails to move faster to strengthen its own safeguards, 'the next major worm could cause a nuclear disaster or a flood, and the legislation that would get passed then would not be what industry would like,' Putnam said.Putnam said he does not want the Securities and Exchange Commission regulating corporate network security and will support 'the least-intrusive regulation because technologies change.'But several industry speakers opposed any further government regulation of cybersecurity. Laws such as California's new Database Security Breach Information Act are 'leading to regulatory creep,' said Bruce Heiman, a partner in the Washington law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis.If Congress does pass cybersecurity legislation, Heiman said, it should include liability protections for companies that comply.Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said the government's jawboning approach worked well for the year 2000 changeover but cannot succeed against 'cyberthreats that haven't been invented yet. We may not need legislation, but the government needs to take some action. We can use a carrot-stick incentive to guard the nation's infrastructure.'She suggested three federal roles short of legislation:Other speakers questioned the Homeland Security Department's ability to carry out its cybersecurity mission, saying it has too many vacancies and its new cyberczar, Amit Yoran, is too many layers down from secretary Tom Ridge.But Greg Garcia, vice president of information security policy at the IT Association of America, said 'DHS' primary role is coordinating collaboration.' Garcia said DHS is 'paying attention to where we can close the gap.' He said next month's cybersecurity summit in Santa Clara, Calif., 'will be a big tent' for everyone with a stake in cybersecurity.He predicted that industry will learn to view improved security 'as a brand selling point, but we don't yet have a model to put a value on it'something like the Underwriters Laboratory certification or the Good Housekeeping Seal.'

'The next major worm could cause a nuclear disaster or a flood, and the legislation that would get passed then would not be what industry would like.'

'Rep. Adam Putnam

J. Adam Fenster




















  • Persuading Internet service providers and operating system developers to protect their customers better

  • Wielding the government's power as a software buyer to influence product design

  • Researching network security in partnership with academia and industry.





X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.