Cybersecurity ‘Legislation’ Vital for U.S., Says Alexander
It’s possible to protect civil liberties and privacy while ensuring cybersecurity, said Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command. Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute Monday, he said it was important for the U.S. to have cybersecurity “legislation.” He made clear he is not backing any specific piece of legislation now before Congress. “We as a nation need to look at this” and decide on “what we need as country,” he said.
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Referring to the explosion of use of the Internet, cellphones and other devices, he said his concern is that people “throw out words” like civil liberties and privacy without any context. As a nation, the U.S. can “protect” civil liberties and privacy and ensure cybersecurity, he said. This needs to be explained to the American people, he said. There is a need to build a “defensive architecture,” he said, and one of ways to do it is to go to a “thin, virtual” cloud.
The U.S. also needs a trained and ready cyberforce with the right numbers and capacity, Alexander said. He stressed the need for promoting “situational awareness,” which involves sharing information between government agencies and between the government and the private sector. The key misunderstanding with information sharing is the talk about handing over “personal emails to the government,” he said. People need to be educated that they only need to tell the government when “we have a problem.” It’s a “straightforward thing [and] we need to do that.” He warned against “arguing about” cybersecurity until “something bad happens."
Alexander said there also is need for cybersecurity standards, which he called the “rules of the road.” The Internet presents “tremendous opportunities” and vulnerabilities, he said. A cyberattack is “coming our way,” he said, with the number of attacks growing from being disruptive to destructive.