How the Experts Would Fix Cyber Security - Businessweek
►http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-02/how-the-experts-would-fix-cyber-security
Paller: Normally, when you shoot a weapon at somebody, you do damage. When you shoot a weapon in cyberspace, you may do damage—but [then] the weapon is out there. And when the weapon is out there, it can be transformed, and it will probably come back. So it’s not just that we’ve allowed people to think it’s OK to do this—we’ve also empowered them with pretty sophisticated tools to do it. And the key is: We’re much more connected than they are. We’re much more vulnerable.
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Q: There’s a general presumption that both China and Russia have more people involved.
Paller: The people who do the work that you’re talking about are very skilled people. We’re not producing them. There is no pipeline for them right now. The last book on this, Joel Brenner’s book [America the Vulnerable], said 30,000 in the PLA, 150,000 in the militia available. Our best numbers at that skill level are 1,000.
DeMarco: Part of that is precisely because of America’s economic success when it comes to the Internet. Our best talent and brains may not be going into security because they’re going into e-commerce.