Cyber security represents a major national security challenge with a significant economic vulnerability – the ability of U.S. adversaries to acquire valuable information or data about U.S. strategy, technology, and capability can weaken America’s competitive economic advantage.

National security in the virtual environment is receiving due attention after decades of calls by governmental officials and others. The most recent and well-publicized cyber threat posed by the “Conficker” worm, which has infected an estimated 3-12 million Windows PCs was scheduled to activate yesterday, April 1. There are also allegations against China, which it rejects, about an alleged international network of “cyber spies” who have reportedly infiltrated government offices’ computers around the world.

Safeguarding the U.S. information and communication infrastructure, which is largely privately-owned and globally operated, is imperative for protecting America’s economic strength and its informational integrity. According to a recent report produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) titled, “Securing Cyberspace for the 44^th Presidency,” “the immediate benefits gained by our opponents are less damaging, however, than is the long-term loss of U.S. economic competitiveness...we are providing them with the ideas and designs to arm themselves and achieve parity…our lack of cybersecurity is steadily eroding this advantage [economic strength].”

The virtual environment is a tool and a weapon used by those seeking to disrupt or incapacitate America’s critical infrastructure, primarily its informational networks. By using the virtual environment, U.S. adversaries seek to collect and exploit valuable data from government and private sector entities. The most significant challenge is posed by foreign military or intelligence entities. In recent years, the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Homeland Security suffered serious cyber intrusions. Last summer, the FBI’s computers were accessed by a foreign entity, and shortly thereafter the White House networks were infiltrated. Cyber attacks on the government computer networks increased by forty percent in 2008 according to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT). Cyber crime attacks on private and public sector security entities have resulted in financial losses upwards of $350,000, according to the 2008 CSI Computer Crime & Security Survey. According the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, China and Russia have the capability to execute large scale cyber attacks or data breaches. Less sophisticated but equally effective is the use of the Internet by hackers, terrorists, or others who seek to exploit the personal identity and financial information of individuals.

President Obama has elevated the need for improved U.S. cyber security to high-priority. However, improving America’s cyber security is not simple – a matrix of conceptual, organizational, legal, and policy components create a significant challenge, particularly for security and legal professionals. Determining who the actors are (state or non-state) and what threats they pose (cyber attack, cyber espionage, cyber intrusion) is complicated by the diffuse nature of the virtual environment. Addressing the threat array requires not only government cooperation (legal, intelligence and law enforcement, in particular), but also the engagement of the private sector and the international community. However, there are complex bureaucratic and legal challenges embedded in both partnerships. There are also prosecutorial difficulties because of an outdated domestic and international legal regime. The need for public support, which is complicated by the difficulty of enhancing security while protecting privacy, makes resolving this problem exceedingly difficult.

Following the issue of cyber security closely will provide substantive insights about U.S. national security. The implications of this important issue are far-reaching, and nearly every individual with access to some form of technology, whether cell phone, laptop, or Blackberry, will be affected. A breach of information, whether by a foreign intelligence agency on the U.S. government, a network of “bot” computers on Microsoft, or a hacker on your personal computer, would alter the established patterns of an information-reliant society. The virtual world is not a distant land where men in black battle cyborgs, but an ineluctable net that will increasingly connect all of us.�