Public/Private Security Partnership Gets Rocky

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- The changing of the cybersecurity guard at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), coupled with complacency on the part of some corporate executives, has put a higher premium on information-sharing and cooperation between the private sector and the government.
"The two words to focus on are cooperation and coordination," said Richard Davidson, CEO of Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp., which combats more than 80,000 probes on its networks daily. "That all adds up to partnership and information-sharing, and that is our best form of protection during these challenging times," said Davidson, who also serves as chairman of the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Commission.
Davidson spoke last week at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference in Washington that addressed the roles and responsibilities of the government and private sector in homeland security efforts.
Security Slowdown
Uncertainty stemming from the loss in recent months of critical cybersecurity leadership at the DHS could escalate into danger for private-sector companies, said Michael Hershman, president and CEO of Decision Strategies LLC, an Oakton, Va.-based security consulting firm.
Companies have started to slow down their efforts to boost security because there has been no terrorist activity recently, Hershman said.
"I'm afraid that they may be drawing back into complacency," he said. "In recent months, we've seen corporations stand back, reassess what their needs are and try to understand what the level of threat is."
But a lack of effective communication between the corporate community and government agencies has left companies trying to assess their risk with little or no understanding of the threat, Hershman said.
"Corporations in America have spent billions of dollars for security, with very little cost-benefit analysis," said Hershman. He noted that the Bush administration has only added to the confusion regarding who is ultimately responsible for critical infrastructure security by assigning responsibility to industry while issuing more than 60 regulations since Sept. 11, 2001.
The lack of order and stability in the way the government currently deals with the private sector - a situation exacerbated by the recent creation of the DHS - is of immediate concern to Michehl Gent, president of the North American Electric Reliability Council in Princeton, N.J.
"We have a constant fight among agencies for the hearts and minds of industries," said Gent, referring to the multitude of federal agencies that regularly bombard private-sector entities with requests for security information. "DHS is supposed to do that, and I'm looking forward to them being more successful. But in the meantime, I have to keep warding off [government agencies]."

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