The private sector operates much of U.S. critical infrastructure, but is it doing enough to further national cybersecurity strategy efforts designed to protect these assets?
The U.S. government has been very public about its concern for national cybersecurity. There have been grandiose speeches, presidential declarations and several attempts by the legislature to pass new cybersecurity laws. But the problem with America’s national cybersecurity strategy is bigger than one-off hacks or data thefts. Crimes perpetrated by the likes of Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and the individual(s) who committed the alleged leak of the CIA’s highly sensitive cyber warfare tools have resulted in mind-blowing losses.
Beyond those headline grabbers is a problem that gets less attention but poses a significant risk to critical national assets: the fact that private sector businesses operate — but do not adequately protect — a vast majority of the nation’s critical infrastructure and data.