Cybersecurity Report Emphasizes Urgency, Teamwork

One of the lead execs on a cybersecurity report requested by the White House suggests it will advise a holistic and cooperative public-private partnership approach, suggest there needs to be more urgency about the issue (primarily the threat of botnets), and advises against relying on "international norms."

That is according to a blog post from AT&T assistant VP of global policy Chris Boyer, aa member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council (NSTAC), who was tasked with overseeing the development of the report.

The NSTAC report was mandated in the President's Cyber Security executive order back in May.

Boyer says the report won't be finalized until later in the month, but the takeaways include that all parts of the internet ecosystem--that would be edge providers as well as ISPs--have to do a better job of" getting out in front" of the threats.

Report recommendations include: 1) accelerating the adoption of industry standards, 2) more help is needed from both the network and application sides, 3) government can set an example by improving its own security as well as harmonizing its approach with those at the state level.

On a parallel track, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration requested input on fighting botnets and other automated attacks, like those the FCC claims disrupted its network neutrality docket. It is also producing a report, likely due out in the first part of 2018.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.