Earlier today, the Atlantic Council hosted a panel discussion on NATO’s developing role in cyber defense and security. Participants included IBM’s NATO and European Defence Leader Leendert Van Bochoven, IBM’s Vice President Security Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer Harriet P. Pearson, and the Director of the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, Jason Healey. Barry Pavel, the Director-Designate and Arnold Kanter Chair of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council, moderated the event.
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Archive for February, 2012
I stumbled across an interesting piece by David Horovitz from The Times of Israel on the potential for an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The article discusses, among other subjects, the spate of news stories that with near certainty predict Israeli military action before the year is out. I suggest you read the entire piece, but here’s a quick preview:
This narrative is dramatic and compelling, and appears to be supported by the Osirak and Syria precedents. And yet, there is an alternative reading that is compelling too — a narrative that suggests the US and Israel are rather closer together than some articles, sound bites and senatorial statements have suggested, and that the notion of a supposed Osirak-Syria precedent should not be overstated.
This is a bit outside the purview of the blog, but Stuxnet is referenced, so I’m calling it fair game.
George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute hosted “A Conversation on Cyber Security Legislation,” this morning. The participants included Adm. Mike McConnell, former Director of National Intelligence, Michael Chertoff, former Director of the Department of Homeland Security, Tommy Ross from the Senate Office of Majority Leader, Jeffrey Ratner from the Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Committee (Majority), Nick Rossi from the same committee (Minority), Tom Corcoran from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Kevin Gronberg from the House Committee on Homeland Security.
There’s a post up on Slashdot asking what real space combat would look like. Asks c0mpliant:
“Given our current technology and potential near-future technology, what would a future space battlefield look like? Would capital ships rule the day? Would there be equivalents of cruisers, fighters and bombers, or would it be a mix of them all?”
My (very) brief thoughts:
The “satellite rendezvous” technology discussed in this Wired article from 2010 struck me as a particularly important development. To the extent that such a rendezvous could be carried out surreptitiously, the implications are far reaching. A Washington Times article quotes an expert stating that the other countries known to have this capability are the US, Russia, and Sweden. For further reading, see Brian Weeden’s piece at The Space Review.
Check out the original post for the ongoing discussion, and feel free to post comments here.
If you’re in Washington DC this Wednesday, you’ll have to endure the agony of choice between two great cybersecurity panels.
George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute will be hosting roundtable discussion on pending cybersecurity legislation, with former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, former Department of Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, and senior congressional staff. The event begins at 10:30 in the Jack Morton Auditorium, 805 21st Street, NW. See this link for more information.
And the Bipartisan Policy Center will be hosting an event at the same time on how best to forge public-private partnerships for cybersecurity, with a focus on policies put forth by the FCC. That discussion will include former Assistant Secretary for Policy at DHS, Stewart Baker; Director of Risk Management Information Security at CenturyLink, Michael Glenn; President of the internet intelligence firm Renesys, Andy Ogielski; and Assistant Secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at DHS, Greg Schaffer. This event will be held at 1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 1000. See the link for more details.
John Heilprin at AP reports that the Swiss Space Center is currently building a prototype of a class of satellites, called CleanSpace One, that will be able to mitigate the space debris currently orbiting the earth. The hope is to have the satellite launched within 3-5 years, and its first mission will be to collect two Swiss satellites that were recently launched.
For more on CleanSpace One, check out this post on Orbiter.ch, and this video below:
Yesterday, the Hudson Institute hosted a discussion between Harold Furchtgott-Roth and Gen. James Cartwright (USMC, ret.) entitled “Recent Developments in Cyber Warfare.” Cartwright served as Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, and later as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is currently the Harold Brown Chair in Defense Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Cartwright began his discussion by noting that the underlying assumptions about how the Department of Defense (DOD) views cyber and has organized itself in that respect are not well understood, and that he wanted to rectify some of those misconceptions.
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This morning, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on the subject of cybersecurity of the nation’s communications infrastructure, and the responses of the private sector.
Testimony was heard from Larry Clinton, President and CEO of the Internet Security Alliance, Bill Connor, President and CEO of Entrust, Robert Dix, VP of Government Affairs & Critical Infrastructure Protection, James A. Lewis, Director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at CSIS, and Phyllis Schneck, VP and CTO of Global Public Sector at McAfee.
Among the consistent themes throughout the hearing was support for increased information sharing between the government and private sector on cyber threats. Rep. Eshoo (D-CA) announced her support for Rep. Mike Rogers’ Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011. The bill currently has 54 co-sponsors across partisan lines.
This support was also echoed by those testifying today. Bill Connor stated that the current system of one-way information sharing is untenable and needs to change, and Larry Clinton and James Lewis suggested the Rogers’ bill was a good place to begin in this area.
Schneck noted that data exchange is crucial to being able to combat these threats – both data from government and private companies, and that some laws prevent companies from sharing this data. She did note that this push for sharing must be tempered with proper privacy assurances.
The panelists largely seemed to eschew government-set standards in favor of industry developed ones, though Lewis observed that not holding critical infrastructure to some standards will “guarantee an attack.” Clinton recommended an independent authority to not create standards but to evaluate them. And Rep. Terry (R-NE) said it would be quite difficult to set standards in this area as “before the ink is dry on the bill the standards have changed.”
A few other random nuggets from the hearing:
- In response to Bill Connor’s account of the ZeuS and SpyEye “merger,” Rep. Walden joked that it should have gone through FCC review, thus guaranteeing it would never have happened
- Corroborating the points raised by various Representatives in their opening remarks regarding education being a high priority in cybersecurity, Robert Dix explained that 80% of cyber vulnerabilities are result of no or poor cyber hygiene
- Larry Clinton’s remark that with cyber, we’re “dealing with the invention of gunpowder. Mandating thicker armor won’t work. Government needs to engage private sector, not control what it does.”
- James Lewis made an interesting point regarding increased reliance on mobile devices. He recounted a discussion with a hacker who informed him the software “tool” for hacking an iPhone costs twice what it costs for other smartphones ($20,000 vs. $10,000). This was in the context of his suggestion that we’ll see an increased role to be played by service providers, such as telcos.
With the subcommittee largely receptive to what the panelists had to say and the broad support that exists for it, I think there’s hope that one of the first legislative steps we’ll see in this area will be the adoption of the Rogers bill.
You can watch the full hearing here.
The Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief provides some good analysis of China’s report “Space Activities in 2011.”
On earth observation activities:
Indeed, the white paper states, during the next four years, China will establish a “stable all-weather, 24-hour, multi-spectral, various-resolution Earth observation system” (“Satellites Support Growing PLA Maritime Monitoring and Targeting Capabilities,” China Brief, February 10, 2011).
With regard to launch activities:
China also has been keen to promote commercial space activities. China has reinvigorated itself as a commercial launch service provider and has exported satellites for the first time. China exported and made in-orbit deliveries of communication satellites to Nigeria, Venezuela and Pakistan and provided commercial launch services to Indonesia for the Palapa-D satellite and the to Eutelsat for the W3C satellite. China also has signed commercial agreements with Bolivia, Laos, Belarus and Turkmenistan for communication satellites and ground system support services.
And on debris-creating activities:
While it is not surprising that China does not mention its debris-producing 2007 ASAT test, the white paper does state China “takes effective measures to protect the space environment” and “will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space.” This could indicate China will not conduct additional debris-producing ASAT tests. On the other hand, it also could simply mean that China will seek to reduce debris in other ways.
Be sure to read the full piece here.
Scientific American has a great interactive feature today on the problem of space debris and what might be done about it. On the issue of cleanup, the article notes:
These nations and others realize that hundreds of billions of dollars in satellites vital to communications, military strategy and environmental monitoring are on the line; the international community is beginning to make plans to clean up debris. Russia and the U.S. have already crafted some debris-removal proposals, and China’s recently unveiled five-year space plan has provisions for monitoring debris. Scientists who say the debris problem has reached a tipping point are urging space agencies to begin cleaning debris as quickly as possible, but legal and technological hurdles could stall such efforts.
ErikTheBlond
Luke Pelican
