Panel: Allies need cybersecurity coordination

Cooperation among the United States and ally nations on cybersecurity is ad hoc and erratic, according to members of a panel of U.S. and international military officials.

Cooperation among the United States and ally nations on cybersecurity is ad hoc and erratic, according to members of a panel of U.S. and international military officials.

“I often get a blank stare,” Mark Hall, director of information assurance policy and strategy, international information assurance programs in the Defense Department's office of networks and information integration, said of the general reaction he receives. Hall spoke April 8 in Omaha, Neb., in a conference on cybersecurity sponsored by Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association International.

“We don’t fight alone anymore and we’re going to connect our networks together,” he said. “We need to address how we do that, whether it’s cross domain solutions, whether it’s cryptography, whether it’s access to the network controls we put in place across the world.”

Whether information about cybersecurity issues is shared with coalition partners often depends on the initiative of single people rather than policy, Hall said. In 2008, for example, 840 cybersecurity reports were sent to Australia through the U.S. military’s computer emergency response team (CERT). Then, following a personnel change, it dropped to zero. “We cannot have his person dependent, personality dependent,” Hall said. “We don’t really have people dedicated to sending the send switch.”

Even unclassified information is difficult to share. Hall said the Army set up a site on its Army Knowledge Online portal for sharing sensitive but unclassified information with coalition partners. “We went through great pains on getting them all the military CERT member certificates to access that site,” he said. “Two months after we did that, AKO shut down and [Defense Knowledge Online] came online and those certificates are no longer available or possible,” he added.

Of course, international cooperation has limits. Any attempt to “demilitarize” cyberspace along the lines of the international consensus on outer space would fail, said Australian Air Commodore Andrew Dowse, who works in the office of Australia’s Director General, Integrated Capability Development. “Treaties as such are typically between nation states and they wouldn’t tie interest groups or individuals,” he noted, adding “if we do get into conflict, that would be the first thing that gets thrown out,” he added. The Australian military’s restricted network – the equivalent of the United States’ Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router Network – is the third largest in Australia, Dowse said.

For its part, Canada is “very conscious of being seen to be a trustworthy partner on the continent and yet keeping our own information technology infrastructure secure,” said Canada Brig. Gen. John Turnbull, chief of that country’s Military SIGNIT Communications Security Establishment.

Canada’s military network is small – and as a result is administered by a single operational and technical authority, Turnbull said. Consolidating the network was painful, Turnbull said. “Everyone believes in configuration management until they hear the word ‘no,’ ” he added.

The United Kingdom also enjoys the benefits afforded by a smaller network, said U.K. Air Commodore Bob Judson, head of Defence Targeting and Information.

“It’s quite easy to coordinate things amongst ourselves,” he said. Of course, that smallness is dictated by the relative strength of the British military.

“We used to have global interests; they’re a lot less now,” Judson said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.