Federal Government Needs State Help to Make Internet Secure, Governors Told
The growing popularity of smartphones and devices like the iPad are creating a new challenge for the nation’s cybersecurity, General Keith Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, said Sunday on a National Governors Association panel. Alexander and other federal speakers emphasized the big role the states have to play in making the Internet safer.
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Devices like the iPad offer “tremendous opportunities” but also security risks, Alexander said. “As we look at it as a team, we see tremendous vulnerabilities, huge problems that are coming up with those capabilities,” he said. “We are going to want to leverage these smartphones, these iPads. Now we are going to have to have a secure way of dealing with those.”
The federal government relies on cooperation from the states, Alexander said. “What we need are the best standards,” he said. “We need to lay those out and we can only do that if we act as a team. We cannot do that unilaterally.”
Undersecretary Rand Beers of the Department of Homeland Security agreed the federal government needs the states’ support in cybersecurity. “We are absolutely critically bound to working together on this set of problems,” he said. Beers said DHS needs state input for its basic engagement program, its Open Security Technology Program and the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s Homeland Security Grant Program. The work of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center is also critical, he said.
Beers assured the governors that the federal government is making cybersecurity a major focus. “We are as deeply committed to dealing with the cyber threats to this country as we are the physical,” he said. “We have in the last year and a half added cybersecurity as a fifth essential mission of the Department of Homeland Security.” Beers said Congress could help by approving a cybersecurity bill outlining the responsibilities of the federal government and others. “There’s a lot more work to be done,” he said. “There’s a lot more that we need to do and think about.”
More state officials need security clearances, Beers warned. “If we're going to deal with these problems together, we're going to have to deal with these problems at a classified level,” he said. “We absolutely have to be able to talk about these issue to the right officials in the right state and local governments.”
"We're connected to one another like we've never been as a people,” said Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat. “We live digital lives on Facebook and Twitter.” He added, “I'm sure many of us rely heavily on Blackberrys and iPads. That connectiveness has given us some valuable opportunities to communicate and work together,” but it has also “opened up a new front” in the fight for cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity is a “major national concern,” said Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. Recent reports indicate the nation remains unprepared, she said. “Today, state information systems store and manage sensitive information of our citizens, such as medical records, tax information and even voter registration,” Brewer said. “As governors, it is our responsibility to ensure that states are doing everything they can to prevent this information from being compromised and falling into the hands of those that would do us harm.” She said protecting networks and electronic systems “is as critical as protecting other property.”