Obama’s cybersecurity report: Security experts weigh in

Yesterday, I attended the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee’s panel discussion of President Obama’s cybersecurity report featuring top cyber security and intelligence experts. The panel of experts debated aspects related to civil liberties, critical infrastructure, private sector regulation, and security of government data and systems.

Here is some of what the group said about the report’s impact on consumers:

It’s too soon to tell exactly what will change for consumers in the aftermath of the report’s release, the group agreed. “Consumers are going to have to wait,” said Gregory Nojeim, Senior Counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “The report is so high level, it’s going to depend on how it’s implemented.”

One piece of good news for consumers, according to Marcus Sachs, Executive Director of Government Affairs for National Security Policy at Verizon, is that President Obama places himself in a consumer role. “He sees himself as a user—and a hackee,” since his campaign Web site was itself compromised during the election in 2008.

The many references to privacy in the report are also a good sign for consumers, the panelists agreed. “Privacy and civil liberties are mentioned at least a dozen times,” said Nojeim. It looks like privacy measures will be built directly into any protective measures that will be taken, he added.

The panelists were generally satisfied with the report. The president’s launch of the report on Friday was “a great speech,” said James Lewis, Director and Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, who headed up the committee that wrote last year’s report to the 44th president on the state of cybersecurity. “It’s a good report, a strong comprehensive overview, but it’s to be determined what they do about it.”

The bottom line: The ball is in everyone’s court, not just the government’s, to make the Web a safer place. “Cyberspace is personal,” said Sachs. “You are the Internet. If you’re not involved in making it secure, you are failing. This is the future of our country.”

You can download an audio podcast of the panel discussion at http://www.netcaucus.org/events/2009/cybersecurity/

Today and tomorrow I’ll be blogging and Twittering from the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference in DC.

Check back here and also follow me live on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DonnaTapellini —Donna Tapellini