Technology Today Radio Show Announces Move to New Platform

Listeners can tune into June 9th show addressing ongoing discussions on Cyber War issues now on the BlogTalkRadio Network

If we’re in Cyber War, what can Citizens do?

During WWII, citizens could contribute to the war effort by helping to recycle steel and metal for use in building military equipment. If we are in a Cyber War, which certainly appears to be the case, despite official comments to the contrary from the Administration, is there a role now for citizens to play? And what really is the solution to the world’s shared Cybersecurity problem?

Join us at 4:00 PM EST, today and share your thoughts and comments as we continue our discussion from last week’s show and examine:

1. What can citizens do if the nation is truly engaged in a Cyber War with China (or anyone)?

2. And what really is a solution to the Cybersecurity issue?

Also today, we complete our move to the BlogTalkRadio network.

Technology Today continues to air on Thursdays at 4PM and we’ll still take calls, texts, and emails from our listeners.

Our new call-in number is (323) 410-0032. Our new show page is http://www.blogtalkradio.com/technologytoday.

Please contact Sandra Schwartzman at (301) 230 – 0045 x 100 or sschwartzman@rmr.com with any questions or if you’d like to be connected to the Host of Technology Today, Cybersecurity Expert, Ajay Gupta.

About Technology Today

Technology Today is the #1 rated technology talk show on Internet radio for a rapidly growing worldwide audience of people who are curious about technology and who need an interactive information channel that can help them make sense of how innovations in business and personal technologies are shaping our lives. Created and hosted by cybersecurity authority Ajay Gupta, Technology Today also offers tech-driven sponsors an uncommon branding platform that delivers precision-targeted messages to a self-selected, self-perpetuating community of predisposed enthusiasts who are open to innovation and, therefore, new ways of thinking and doing.  Unlike traditional talk radio programs, Technology Today creates an online community in which listeners, guests and sponsors can come to know the issues, people and organizations driving development and deployment of technologies that are changing lives and shaping the future. Technology Today air Live on Thursdays at 4pm Eastern, is available on the BlogTalkRadio network.  For more information on Technology Today please visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/technologytoday, or follow the show through Facebook, Twitter or the show's blog

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Pentagon, Homeland Security Collaborate on Cybersecurity

By Lisa Daniel

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2011 – In line with an agreement between the department secretaries last fall and a recently released White House proposal, the Defense Department is sharing cybersecurity information, capabilities and expertise with the Homeland Security Department, a Pentagon official said today.

Robert J. Butler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, was among four senior officials who testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today about the Obama administration’s legislative proposal to protect the nation’s computer networks.

Under the plan, Homeland Security would lead the effort to protect Americans, the nation’s critical infrastructure and the federal government’s computer networks. The Defense Department would retain protections over its “dot-mil” domain, but would work in close collaboration with DHS and the departments of Justice and Commerce to better safeguard cyberspace.

“Just as our reliance on critical infrastructure has grown, so have the threats,” Butler told the committee, adding that the military is “critically dependent” on the civilian power generation grid, telecommunications, transportation and other sectors run on computer networks.

Cyber attacks have become so pervasive as to create “a real possibility of a large-scale attack on any of our nation’s critical infrastructure,” Butler said.

“The status quo [in cybersecurity] is no longer acceptable -- not when there is so much at stake,” he said. “We can, and we will, do better.”

Committee members and government witnesses described cybersecurity as a Wild West of uncoordinated efforts struggling to stay ahead of rapidly growing and increasingly sophisticated threats to the nation’s security and economy. The administration’s proposal -- requested by Congress members faced with dozens of pieces of cybersecurity legislative proposals -- would give legal authority to the appropriate agencies to better coordinate cybersecurity.

Some 2 billion people worldwide use the Internet, and an estimated $1 trillion is lost annually to cyber crimes, committee members said. Congress and U.S. executive departments, they added, are the target of about 1.8 billion cyber attacks per month.

Protecting computer networks requires a “whole of government” approach, Butler said, and the Defense and Homeland Security departments already are doing that. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano laid the foundation for the collaboration in October with their agreement to share operational planning and technical development, he said.

Since then, Butler said, the collaboration has grown into joint coordination at U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md., and the sharing of information, capabilities, and employees.

Philip Reitinger, undersecretary of homeland defense for national protection and programs, said Homeland Security, Defense Department and National Security Agency officials meet regularly and have weekly teleconferences to coordinate cybersecurity.

“We each bring unique things to the table,” he said. “DOD has unparalleled technical expertise and cyber expertise. In DHS, we’ve built up our own expertise, working broadly across agencies.”

Homeland Security will stay “operationally synched” with the Defense Department, and both departments and NSA will deploy cyber experts to work at each others’ sites, Reitinger said.

To ensure a steady supply of cyber experts in the future, Butler said, the Defense Department supports various high school and college competitions such as the CyberPatriot, which the Air Force Association began as an annual competition in 2009, as well as coaching and mentoring programs in cybersecurity.

“This is not only about today, it’s also about tomorrow,” he said. “Secretary Gates has made this a big priority.”

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Lynn: Cyberspace Strategy to Build Coalition of Nations

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2011 – White House officials released an international cyberstrategy here today that will help to build a “coalition of nations [with a] mutual interest in securing cyberspace,” Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said.

The event to launch the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace also included remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

“The strategy the president is releasing today provides a framework for how we can expand this cooperation and establishes how network security relates to other critical areas of partnership,” Lynn said.

Hosting the event were John O. Brennan, assistant to the president for counterterrorism and homeland security, and Howard A. Schmidt, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator.

Senior foreign diplomats and representatives from industry, civil society and academia also attended.

Clinton said the strategy’s seven key policy priorities are economic engagement, cybersecurity, law enforcement, military cooperation, multiple-stakeholder Internet governance, development and Internet freedom.

“We are seeing cyberspace transform before our very eyes,” she said. “Now we must shape this transformation.”

White House officials released a statement that called the strategy a “first-of-its-kind policy document [that] offers our comprehensive vision for the future of international cooperation in cyberspace.” The report also outlines the administration’s agenda, the statement said, “for partnering with other nations and peoples to ensure the prosperity, security and openness that we seek in our increasingly networked world.”

Lynn said no one nation can devise or enforce a sustainable solution.

“It is hard to overstate the importance of cyberspace to the Department of Defense or the need to engage our allies and partners to keep it secure,” he said. “Department of Defense networks are probed millions of times a day, and more than 100 foreign intelligence agencies have tried to penetrate our networks or those of our industrial partners.”

Cyber threats are growing more serious and more prevalent, Lynn added, and meeting them requires the cooperation of nations, the private sector and individuals.

“Our military continues to ensure that we can operate with secure and reliable networks, he said, “and maintain the capability to defend vital national assets.”

The Defense Department’s forthcoming Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace, Lynn said, will detail the military’s role in keeping DOD networks secure.

“Just as our air defenses are linked with those of our allies to provide warning of attack, so too must we share information to prevent and, if necessary, respond to cyber intrusions,” he added.

Over the past year, DOD officials have worked with counterparts in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the NATO alliance to strengthen cyber partnerships, Lynn said.

“While our efforts are increasingly linked with many international partners,” he added, “far greater levels of cooperation with more nations are needed if we are to stay ahead of the cyber threat.”

The strategy that President Barack Obama released today, Lynn said, “provides a framework for how we can expand this cooperation and establishes how network security relates to other crucial areas of partnership.”

Lynn said he is delighted to carry defense cooperation forward in the cyber realm.

“I look forward to working closely in this effort with the departments of State, Justice, Commerce and Homeland Security under the leadership of President Obama,” he said.

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