Cybersecurity Policy Report, Panelists Cite Planning as Priority Against Growing Cybersecurity Threats, (Oct 2, 2024)

By Jeff Williams

With threats from hackers, foreign adversaries, and others continuing to evolve and escalate, the work being done by the U.S. government and industry to craft and implement comprehensive cybersecurity plans is increasingly important, panelists said today during a virtual Broadband Breakfast event.

Clete Johnson, a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, said that rather than being a simple “checklist,” the voluntary National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cyber Security Framework was a “playbook” being used to address the threat from bad actors “in all its dynamism and sophistication.”

The NIST framework established a “new and paradigmatically different approach to security than I think has existed before,” Mr. Johnson said. "It will be collaborative. It will be dynamic. It will be adaptable. It will be flexible.”

The U.S. is “entering the stage where we have a regulatory and policy and statutory environment that can bring the framework and its relevant approaches to life in the real world with accountability built in,” he said.

Mr. Johnson also stressed that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea were “effectively in military alliance with each other” in addition to launching their own cyber attacks on U.S. interests.

“If we think a checklist is going to protect us against those enemies, we are in for a reckoning,” he said. “What we need ... is a discerning plan where every ISP and every entity comes up with ‘How am I defending myself today?’"

Jay Harmon, managing director at BorderHawk LLC, highlighted the need for individual companies to accurately assess their cybersecurity posture and needs and implement procedures that are “uniquely yours.”

There is “a lot of work” needed to educate organizations about "what needs to really happen and how they actually can implement and put into practice these programs so that they are then actually able to stand these programs up and operate them.”

Chuck Brooks, president of Brooks Consulting International, said the “attack surface” for hackers to target was "growing exponentially” because of the growth of broadband and connected devices, and those new vulnerabilities must be accounted for in risk management plans.

“We have to be cognizant of these new technologies and how they’re impacting the risk management profile, particularly artificial intelligence,” which is being used to power phishing attacks, among other things, he said.

Mr. Brooks was also among those who discussed the benefits of AI, which he called a “double-sided coin” that can both pose threats and be used to detect and protect against them.

Cole McAndrew, information security officer at AIS Network, pointed to the “importance and criticality of being proactive on cybersecurity” and the opportunity it presents to take steps to protect consumers and investments.

Ultimately, he said, the “network is only as strong as its weakest link,” and “no organization of any size is safe from cyber attacks without a serious effort to enhance their security posture and be proactive about cybersecurity.”

News: FederalLegislation DataSecurity