DHS Seeks ‘Distributed Security’ and ‘Cyber Hygiene’

"There are intrusions [and] there are threats that we have to address,” DHS Deputy Secretary Jane Lute told the committee. The department’s “vision is one of distributed security, where we have smart machines and smart users that are supported by intelligent networks that identify threats hopefully before they occur to prevent them.” Lute seeks “a cultivated unity and a sensibility of cyber hygiene that’s pervasive throughout the United States and indeed throughout the Internet.” DHS is working closely with the Defense Department and industry to help realize that vision, she said.

The U.S. must improve cybersecurity to protect against future attacks, said Carper. “This could very well likely be the next war.” Carper asked what additional resources DHS needed. Lute said President Barack Obama’s FY2012 budget would provide what’s needed. DHS has also been working with the Office of Management and Budget, “and there has been a legislative proposal sent to the Hill regarding ways to strengthen our ability to fulfill our cybersecurity vision,” Lute said.

Lute cited DHS progress on cybersecurity. “We have enhanced our ability to protect federal government networks through better detection, reporting, and threat mitigation,” she said in written testimony. “We have engaged cyber-users at all levels, public and private, in our shared protection. And we have broadened our partnership with the private sector to protect our critical infrastructure, and established a new regulatory framework to protect high-risk chemical facilities.” DHS has 84 percent deployed Einstein, a program which aims to stop cyber intrusions at federal agencies, Lute told the committee. But agencies still have work to do to bring their traffic behind the program, she said.

But Einstein is only the tip of a “pyramid” of cybersecurity measures, Lute said. DHS is “working to reduce and consolidate the number of external connections that federal agencies have to the Internet through the Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) initiative,” she said in written testimony. “DHS is also building a world-class cybersecurity team by hiring a diverse group of cybersecurity professionals -- computer engineers, scientists, and analysts -- to secure the nation’s digital assets and protect against cyber threats to Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR).” And DHS is trying to increase public awareness about cybersecurity, she said. “Today’s threats to cybersecurity require the engagement of our entire society -- from government and law enforcement to the private sector and importantly, members of the public -- to block malicious actors while bolstering defensive capabilities."

Lute also cited progress improving emergency communications and alert systems. “To enhance emergency and interoperable communications, we developed the National Emergency Communications Plan in coordination with more than 150 public safety practitioners at all levels and across responder disciplines,” she said. “The National Emergency Communications Plan is our Nation’s first nationwide strategic plan to improve emergency communications and drive progress at all levels of government. We have also made over $4 billion in grants for interoperable communications available and increasingly aligned them with national and state plans."

Better disaster notification is the goal of a bill under development (CD July 28 p1) by Collins. She wants to see an early warning system that uses modern technology like cellphones and social networking sites, she said at the hearing. Those technologies are “more likely to reach more people” than a “crawl on a television screen,” Collins said. Lute responded that the public alert warning system currently reaches 78 percent of the population. DHS hopes to make progress this year by rolling out mobile alert systems in New York City and Washington, and performing the first ever national test of the emergency alert system. “We are absolutely committed to making use of modern technologies” like social media, Lute said, “to give people accurate and timely information.”