US Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn, III, in a speech delivered to a Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Customer and Industry Forum in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 16, has announced the establishment of a pilot cyber security program, initially covering a small number of US defence companies.
In this Defense Industrial Base – or DIB – Cyber Pilot, classified threat intelligence is to be shared with defence contractors or their commercial internet service providers along with the know-how to employ it in network defence.
“By furnishing this threat intelligence, we are able to help strengthen these companies’ existing cyber defences,” Mr Lynn said.
The government, he said, has deep awareness of certain cyber threats and has already formally recognised cyberspace as a new operational domain – like land, air, sea and space.
“We have what some have termed a ‘special sauce’ of malicious code signatures gathered from various intelligence efforts.
“Loading these signatures onto existing systems dramatically increases the effectiveness of cyber security.
“In this way, the DIB Cyber Pilot builds off existing capabilities that are widely deployed through the commercial sector.
“Right now about 20 companies are involved in the 90-day pilot program,” he said.
“It is important to note that the pilot is voluntary for all participants, that the U.S. government is not monitoring, intercepting, or storing any private sector communications, and that the pilot has already stopped hundreds of attempted intrusions.
The pilot also appears to be cost effective.
He said that in the coming months, the pilot would be expanded to the rest of the industrial base, as well as other key areas of critical infrastructure.
Mr Lynn did acknowledge that DISA and its industry partners would be crucial to making the initiative work and that the “changing fiscal circumstances” for the US Government meant that they were entering a period of significant resource constraints, which would mean achieving the same results for less money.
He said he expected the consolidation of data centres to yield significant savings for each service.
“We have closed eight data centers since the IT Reform plan was published, and we intend to close another 44 by the end of FY2011. These efforts are very important to the Department,” he told the Forum.
In a final rallying call that will sound familiar to most defence industry participants, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense told the Forum that the government needed “your experience, judgment, and initiative to help modernize the department while saving money”.
Link to full speech: http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1601