Government & Private Sector Differences on Cyber Security

As the election stories heated up during August, a number of articles appeared around the country regarding roles and responsibilities in cyberspace – and especially on cyber security. While everyone wants more money, two different camps have different approaches to the question:  Should the government do more? 

Check out this LA Times article entitled: Public, private sector at odds over cyber security.  There are many interesting quotes and sub-plots to this story. Take, for example Jerry Dixon’s comments:

“Nothing is happening,” said Jerry Dixon, the former director of the National Cyber Security Division at the Department of Homeland Security. “This has got to be in the top five national security priorities.”

What makes this story interesting is the strange number of role reversals that various people are now playing around the country. It’s hard to keep track of who is changings sides in the debate and who is just hedging their bets as they wait for November 5 and the crowning of a new President. Let me try to explain without getting into too many details…

  The traditonal view has been that Republicans have a hands-off approach when it comes to things like the Internet. They argue that 85% (or more) of the Internet is privately held, and that the government should allow the private sector to largely run the show. The government role is to support public-private opportunities and to work together where it makes sense.

  Meanwhile the Democrats (supposedly) want more government action. This can equate to more regulation, more mandatory compliance, and increases in infrastructure investments (allocate dollars) to make things better and more secure.

Of course, these stereotypes never work exactly, and there are individual exceptions. The Bush Administration is making large investments in the cybersecurity initiative for federal government security, but that is too little too late for many cyber security critics.

No doubt, there is plenty of wiggle room for everyone, and this is not entirely a new issue.  In my experience with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the relationship between the public and private sectors has been excellent. They work together well, and up until recently, the majority of experts were on board with DHS strategies. That being said, cyber crime has grown significantly worse over the past several years.

Just as every Monday morning quarterback in America analyzes their football team’s good and bad plays from the weekend before, there are many items to praise and items to complain about regarding federal, state and local government  IT efforts.  That is, just because I complain about Michigan State’s loss to Cal this weekend and the number of poor plays, doesn’t mean that I’m not a loyal fan.

Still, there are many ways to win a football game. There are also many different ways to organize our Internet governance and security efforts. We’ll know a lot more about those plans and the next four years in November.