Regular Americans Deserve Better Cybersecurity
April 17, 2012 by Tom Gavin (Formerly of ITI) View all posts by Tom Gavin

New data that CDW released today bear out what ITI and the tech sector have been saying for a long time:  the American people deserve a cybersecurity defense that protects them much more effectively from cybercrime.
 
CDW asked IT security experts what they considered to be the most likely target of a cyber intrusion, and the answer was overwhelming.  Nearly 70 percent responded that personally identifiable information – customer records, medical patient information, credit card information, and the like – is the most likely target of cyber criminals.  The next most likely target – corporate proprietary information – is at 13 percent.  It’s not even close.
 
Next week, the House of Representatives will debate and vote on cybersecurity proposals.  What we need at the heart of any final strategy is a robust cyber threat information sharing system.  The system should be structured to give industry and law enforcement the ability to share real-time threat information, which will improve our security while protecting personal data.
 
A bipartisan bill put forward by U.S. Representatives Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and “Dutch” Ruppersberger, D-Md., would create this fast, flexible, adaptable system while safeguarding individual Americans’ privacy.  Under their proposal, a company that shares cyber threat information voluntarily with law enforcement can place tough restrictions on the data, including both who can use the information and how it is used.
 
Consider the everyday applications that we all rely on – online banking, social networking, picture sharing, health care systems access, music and movies, real-time weather and traffic reports.  Cybersecurity helps to protect the integrity and access to those systems and applications.  Without a strong defense, individuals and the sites we rely on are jeopardized.
 
In our online world, cybersecurity is personal security.  The stronger, faster, and more flexible we can make our cybersecurity system, the safer individuals, businesses, and the government will be online.