US cybersecurity plans revealed

“In order to be successful against today’s cybersecurity threats, we must continue to seek out innovative new partnerships — not only within government, but also among industry, government and the American public,” announced Howard Schmidt in his keynote address at this year’s edition of the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

“Transparency and partnership are terms that need to go hand in hand,” he said, and unveiled the declassified abbreviated version of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, in which is stated that the main goals that the Initiative wants to achieve are to establish a front line of defense against today’s immediate threats, using the aforementioned partnerships to do so; to defend against the full spectrum of threats by increasing U.S. counterintelligence capabilities; and to strengthen the future cybersecurity environment through cyber education, research and development of deterrence strategies.

InformationWeek reports that according to Schmidt, the Obama administration is serious about stepping up the effort of creating and implementing a cohesive national cybersecurity strategy.

The partnership tune was sang again and again throughout the session. “We must all partner together to make sure cybersecurity is secure” and “Our collective knowledge and our experience are probably the most power tool we have” statements are all good and well, but actions will count more. All the assurances in this world can’t make it a partnership of equals, and it remains to be seen what steps will follow this one.

To read the entire summary of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, go here.