Communications of the ACM
Cyberwar Chief Calls For Secure Computer Network
"There is a real probability that in the future, this country will get hit with a destructive attack, and we need to be ready for it," General Keith B. Alexander said in a roundtable on Thursday (Sept. 23).
Credit: Jeff Chiu / The Associated Press
The new commander of the U.S. military's cyberwarfare operations is advocating the creation of a separate, secure computer network to protect civilian government agencies and critical industries like the nation's power grid against attacks mounted over the Internet.
The officer, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, suggested that such a heavily restricted network would allow the government to impose greater protections for the nation's vital, official on-line operations. It would provide to essential networks like those that tie together the banking, aviation, and public utility systems the kind of protection that the military has built around secret military and diplomatic communications networks—although even these are not completely invulnerable.
General Alexander, an Army officer who leads the military's new Cyber Command, did not explain just where the fence should be built between the conventional Internet and his proposed secure zone, or how the gates would be opened to allow appropriate access to information they need every day.
From The New York Times
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