Cyber Roundup (5/15): Gen. Cartwright says U.S. must strut cyber might, Pentagon expands the DIB program, and cyber legislation update

A quick survey . . .

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Aliya Sternstein reported for Nextgov on remarks made by Gen. James Cartwright (architect of the DoD's current cyber strategy) concerning cybersecurity.  Notably, Gen. Cartwright argued that the U.S. must deter enemies from attacking U.S. networks by signaling the offensive might of the U.S. cyber arsenal.  The Gen. specifically said that "you have to scare them . . . [y]ou have to convince them that there is a price for any action that is counter to good order and discipline . . . [t]hat means you need an offensive capability." 

The Gen. made a number of other interesting remarks, check out the Nextgov article for the rest.

I love the General's thinking on this one.  No one is intimidated by really good network defenses.  If we demonstrate a willingness to hit back in conjunction with proper network defenses, then we have a great 1-2 punch for stopping cyberattacks.

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Jim Wolf reported for Reuters on the DoD's defense industrial base (DIB) program, an initiative where the DoD shares cyber threat information with defense contractors.  According to the article, the program may dramatically expand to over 8,000 contractors currently doing business with the DoD.  The program was previously capped at 36.  Interestingly, the Reuters article noted that 17 companies allow ISPs to scan all of their incoming traffic with the NSA's help.

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Brendan Sasso reported for The Hill on cybersecurity legislation.  According to The Hill, a bipartisan group of senators was going to meet to discuss cybersecurity, but postponed the meeting. 

Sort of ho-hum news, but I found it significant that senators are beginning to discuss the issue.  My hope is that passage of CISPA will push things along in the Senate.  A Senate aide had previously signaled that Democrats may be willing to bend on mandatory cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure.  If that's the case, we may see passage of a cybersecurity bill sooner rather than later.

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The Economist had an interesting article on CISPA.  The author was strongly against the bill, arguing that the NSA's potential role in the information sharing exchange is a danger to civil liberties.