On September 12th, 2011, Lolita Baldor reported for the AP that a new study warns that the U.S. must develop cyber intelligence as a new and better coordinated government discipline. The report, authored by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA), says the expansion of sophisticated cyber-attacks has increased the impact of possible damages. Where cyber-attacks previously caused acceptable losses for government and businesses, they now possess the potential to cause the catastrophic collapse.
The report recommends that the US "develop strategies beyond the current "patch and pray" procedures, create cyber intelligence policies, coordinate and share intelligence better among government agencies and businesses, and increase research on attack attribution and warnings." Furthermore, INSA also lays out growing cyber threats from other nations; while it doesn't name the countries, the report notes that failed states provide opportunities for hackers while other nations tolerate hackers as long as they hack systems beyond their borders.
The report notes that the US has also outsourced the design and maintenance of computer technology to other countries. This is dangerous because adversaries are easily able to insert themselves into the supply chain. INSA went on to say that "The present situation is as dangerous as if the United States decided to outsource the design of bridges, electrical grids, and other physical infrastructure to the Soviet Union during the Cold War." Similar to the criticism of the intelligence community after September 11th, the report concludes that "cyber intelligence needs better coordination among government agencies, as well as with the private sector."
The source article can be found here.
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