General Meyerrose says Collaboration is Key to Protecting Cyberspace
February 26th, 2010 by Max Anhoury
For some time now I’ve been writing about the importance of businesses working together to combat cyber crime. Echoing this sentiment is retired Air Force General Dale Meyerrose, who sat down this week with The New New Internet to discuss the importance of building partnerships, the challenges of building those alliances, and the question of who is ultimately responsible for protecting critical infrastructures in cyberspace.
In the article, “Cybersecurity Partnerships are Absolutely Critical, says Gen. Dale Meyerrose,” Meyerrose, now the VP for Cyberspace Solutions at Harris Corporation, expressed his concerns surrounding cybersecurity and the economic impact of cyber crime:
“The [issue] of most concern to me is cyber crime… elements of cyber crime, particularly economically for our country, have come to the point where we need to really be concerned. There have been estimates that we’ve lost over a trillion dollars a year to cyber crime in the last couple years. And it now exceeds all other crime in terms of the amount of money.”
The question is, whose responsibility is it to deal with the mounting issue? Despite the fact that 90% of the Internet’s critical infrastructure in the U.S. is privately owned, Meyerrose believes that the government holds many of the resources necessary to help businesses protect their assets and also has a responsibility to help educate its citizens. “I think that this …needs to become a national priority and a priority of companies and citizenry. There are no pedestrians in cyberspace. Everyone is a victim, a user, a threat to somebody else because you may be passing a malicious code along inadvertently.”
Unfortunately, even with increased government involvement, cyber crime is still inherently borderless—a fact which limits the effectiveness of both law enforcement and the policies of individual governments. Businesses from all countries, however, may have a much easier time collaborating and affecting global change in the realm of cybersecurity. By voluntarily working together to share intelligence, technology, and experience, businesses have the opportunity to better protect their own assets at the same time as contributing to increased internet security for everyone, something we all can benefit from.
Tags: cyber crime, Online Fraud
