Future Tense

Some Good News on Cybersecurity

Normally, any headline with the word cybersecurity promises to be doom-and-gloom about how vulnerable infrastructure is. But the Hill reports today that cybersecurity experts have investigated major U.S. telecommunications companies and found them to be quite secure, though not perfect. The director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, James Lewis, told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology this morning that telecom companies’ “business models makes them the only sector with the expertise and incentives to take cybersecurity seriously. …”

However, Lewis believes that further regulation may be necessary to ensure that the networks remain secure. Indeed, the White House and the Senate are both examining plans that would give the Department of Homeland Security some authority over infrastructure. The industry, of course, would rather continue to self-regulate.

Read more on the Hill.