NYT: Study Criticizes Government on Cybersecurity Research

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Study Criticizes Government on Cybersecurity Research
By JOHN MARKOFF

Published: March 19, 2005


SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 - A report released Friday by a panel of computer experts criticizes the federal government, saying that its financing of research on computer network security is inadequate and that it is making a mistake by focusing on classified research that is inaccessible to the commercial sector.

The report, commissioned by the Bush administration, calls for the government to spend $148 million annually on Internet security research through the National Science Foundation, over the current $58 million. It also urges more research spending by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, and by the Department of Homeland Security.

The report, "Cybersecurity: A Crisis of Prioritization," was prepared by a subcommittee of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, a group of industry and university experts.

Research in Internet security is needed to protect systems that run the government and military operations, as well as other areas, including the electric power grid, the air traffic control grid and financial systems, the report said.

"The federal government is largely failing in its responsibility to protect the nation from cyberthreats," said Edward D. Lazowska, chairman of the computer science and engineering department at the University of Washington and co-chairman of the panel. "The Department of Homeland Security simply doesn't 'get' cybersecurity. They are allocating less than 2 percent of their science and technology budget to cybersecurity, and only a small proportion of this is forward-looking."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/technology/19computer.html?adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1111249768-2v2yANAC4x0w6dqJZUhUwg