President Obama Launches Cyber Initiatives – Part 3 Cyber Warfare

 President Obama is beginning the final two years of his presidency facing the daunting task of working with a Republican controlled House and Senate. That fact has not stopped him from announcing several initiatives aimed at improving cyber security, expanding the availability of high speed Internet and defending the nation against cyber warfare. This the third of a three part article by the AACR reporting on these initiatives.

President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have agreed to to expand cooperation and cyber security efforts between the two nations. The leaders of the two nations met in Washington this week  and discussions focused on enhancing the cyber security of both nations. The bilateral talks focused on a range of collaborative cyber-initiatives that include staging “war games” to test bank and financial infrastructure readiness. President Obama has announced sweeping proposals on data breaches, hacking and information sharing ahead of his State of the Union address.

The planned war games, a joint exercise between the nations, will focus on the financial sector taking place over the coming year. The first target will be the City of London, Wall Street, the Bank of England and other commercial banks. That will be followed by “further exercises to test critical national infrastructure,” according to  the British government.

British intelligence services, GCHQ and MI5,  will work with the U.S. National Security Agency and the FBI to create “a joint cyber cell.” The cell will have an operating presence in each country and have co-located staff from each agency.

A joint statement on cybersecurity released by both leaders indicated agreement to expand efforts to enhance the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure in both nations. The statement also noted that the two countries will strengthen threat information sharing and intelligence cooperation on cyber issues as well as support new educational exchanges between U.S. and British cybersecurity scholars and researchers.

One example of the expanded cyber security efforts between the two countries is an agreement to work with the technology industry to promote and align their cybersecurity best practices and standards. This includes the U.S. Cybersecurity Framework and the United Kingdom’s Cyber Essentials scheme. Meanwhile, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and CERT-UK will cooperate on computer network defense and sharing information to address cyber-threats and manage cyber-incidents. 

The two leaders also agreed to fund a new Fulbright Cyber Security Award. The money would make cyber security research possible for up to six months. 

“We agree that the cyber-threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges that our nations face,” the White House said, in a statement. “Every day, foreign governments, criminals and hackers are attempting to probe, intrude into and attack government and private sector systems in both of our countries.”

However the two leaders did not agree on everything. British Prime Minister reiterated the need to be able to intercept suspected terrorist communications but only in extreme situations and with a warrant signed by the British Home Office Secretary.

President Obama was not so eager to embrace the issue saying only of the need to balance privacy needs with the US’s “ability to operate in cyberspace” with a rational, consistent framework. The president also pointed out the role of tech companies, who would be called upon to establish back doors into customer accounts if governments were allowed to snoop inside encrypted communications. Businesses would need to be able to fulfill their pledges to their customers, Obama noted. But many tech companies have begun to balk at the request of government agencies to look into their customers affairs. The president stopped short of calling for a law requiring a “back door” to break encrypted devices.

President Obama did however admit the White House has had discussions with device manufacturers and software providers to find ways for authorities to gain access to the encrypted data without compromising the privacy and civil liberties of citizens.

“The dialogue that we’re engaged in is designed to make sure that all of us feel confident that if there is an actual threat out there, our law enforcement and our intelligence officers can identify that threat and track that threat at the same time that our governments are not going around fishing into whatever text you might be sending on your smart phone,” Obama said.

But any agreement between the communication industry and the government to access individual private data is sure to spark a major court battle.

Prime Minister Cameron was more blunt stating his belief that it’s justifiable to demand access to encrypted data on mobile devices, much the same as laws allow telephone conversations to be tapped or mail intercepted and read.

“We’re not asking for backdoors; we believe in very clear front doors through legal process that should help to keep our countries safe,” Cameron said. “My only argument is that as technology develops as the world moves on, we should try to avoid the safe havens that otherwise could be created for terrorists to talk to each other.”

Cameron is reportedly urging Obama to criticize tech companies for offering encrypted communications that cannot be cracked by government authorities for terrorist investigations.

Many experts believe that any attempt to insert back doors into encryption technology would fail because of the abundance of free tools for encrypting communications.

FBI Director James Comey said in October that he wants Congress to update a 20-year-old law to give law enforcement authorities access to encrypted data of suspected criminals.

Breaking It Down

The ability to wage cyber war is as important as  sending bombers and warships to attack a target. The U.S. need to step up its cyber defenses and this is a step that indicates the president is aware of this need. After all its his job to defend the United States against all threats. Cooperating with the British is a no brainer and its unlikely the Republicans can disagree with this move. But what about the rest of NATO and Europe? Maybe they are in on the program but I haven’t heard too much about it. The real meat of this agreement is the exchange of experts and information and the cyber war games that will take place. This type of activity can lead to great strides in defending this nation and Great Britain again cyber attacks. Right now there is some jihadist looking for a way to take down the banks, Wall Street or affect some other section of the economy. Not to mention maybe a nuclear power plant or water supply. It is easier to attack this nation’s infrastructure through the Internet rather than taking us on militarily. No one is stupid enough to try that.