Cyber Security: Looking ahead: a shared agenda for tackling cyber threats | ADM November 2011

John Hilvert, with additional reporting by Gregor Ferguson | Sydney & Canberra

No two-day event can do more than describe a highly complex problem and outline some approaches to the necessary solutions. What an event such as the ADM Cyber Security  Summit can achieve is a sharing of knowledge and help the creation of a community of practitioners.

It was clear from the Summit that there isn’t a single cyber security problem (or threat), and nor is there a single solution or counter. A safer cyber environment demands a proper understand of the threats, the intended targets, the consequences of a successful attack or act of cyber intrusion, the scale and effectiveness of the defence and counter-strokes required at each different level, and the technical skills and legislative framework necessary to tackle a graduated spectrum of cyber attack, from online nuisance to national security threat.

On reflection, the ADM Cyber Security Summit 2011 suggests a number of areas the next such event could focus on, and questions the speakers and panellists could usefully address themselves to: 

• To what extent are the present net security paradigms broken and what is to be done?
• Is there a case for intervention beyond education?
• How do we initiate an integrated, cross-sector (government, industry, civil society) approach to cyber security in Australia?
• What is the optimum form of such a cross-sector approach?
• What national performance metrics are necessary to understand the impact of cyber attacks and cybercrime and the effectiveness of our cyber security posture?
• How do we gain more transparency about cyber security breaches across all sectors (government, industry, civil society)?
• Should cyber intrusions and attacks be reported nationally and tracked more regularly than at present?
• When does the scale of breaches from a single source constitute a national security issue?
• What impact will the National Broadband Network have on Australia’s cyber security challenges?
• How do we secure our national ICT supply chains from the introduction of deliberate vulnerabilities?

Of course, these aren’t matters simply for debate: action is required. At forums such as the ADM Cyber Security Summit attendees should expect reports about actions taken and plans made, not just admiring descriptions of an ugly problem.

Other papers and sessions delivered during the ADM Cyber Security Summit 2011

1. Simon Reay Atkinson, Hudson Royal Navy Fellowship Research Fellow, Cambridge University Engineering Department, UK: The cyber-ontology: an emerging conceptualisation
2. Dr Bruce Northcote, Director, Network Engineering, Defence Systems Innovation Centre: Architectures to achieve cyber protection
3. Commercial challenges facing Australian SMEs in the Cyber security market. Panel moderator: Greg Salotti, Business Advisor, Defence Industry Innovation Centre, Panelists: Martin Cebis, CEO, Embedded Technologies Corporation Pty Ltd; Tim Gooch, Managing Director, iWebGate; Peter James, Managing Director, Secure Systems; John O’Callaghan, Executive Director, Australian Industry Group Defence Council.
4. Jeremy Lindeyer, Senior Associate, Booz & Company: A Megacommunity approach to cyber security.  

Subject: Cyber Security