 |
|
|
Cyber Shield and the “Perfect Citizen” To detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure as electricity and nuclear plants, the U.S. federal government is launching an expansive program – called the “Perfect Citizen.” The Wall Street Journal further reported recently that the National Security Agency (NSA) would rely on sensors deployed on computer networks for critical infrastructure. The sensors would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack. U.S. intelligence officials are alarmed at Chinese and Russian surveillance of computer systems that control the electric grid and other U.S. infrastructure. The objective of “Perfect Citizen” is to secure glaring holes typically found in older infrastructure related computer systems connected to the Internet. This is an extension of a small scale program that the NSA started several years ago – code named “April Strawberry” to research vulnerabilities in computer networks and ways to close security holes. “Perfect Citizen” funding source includes the multi-billion dollar Comprehensive National Cybersecurity initiative which started towards the end of the Bush administration and has been continued by the Obama administration. The program is enabling the NSA to map out intrusions into critical infrastructure across the country. The average organization’s information infrastructure is attacked nearly 60,000 times every day. What are the threats to your information infrastructure? What is the priority for security within your organization? Does your organization have effective security controls deployed and actively managed to provide timely information on attacks to sensitive assets? These are important questions to address by the organization’s Information Security Officer (ISO) and executive management. |