Cybersecurity Is a Team Sport: 3 Takeaways from Israel’s Cyber Week
When you examine the international cyberthreat landscape, it’s easy to feel pessimistic. From a new type of DDoS attack that lowers the attackers’ need for bandwidth to as little as 1/75th of what was previously required, to emerging zero-day threats, to a threefold uptick in web application and API attacks, the cyber landscape is complex and ever-changing.
Ever-evolving cyberthreats
Threats evolve quickly to evade the defenses of governments and private corporations alike. It’s easy to look at some of the recent breaches and security challenges and feel overwhelmed by what it will take to protect against these ever-evolving threats and vulnerabilities. And this is because there is no single security tool, individual, company, or government that can tackle this complex landscape alone.
The experts in this field have realized the truth: There is no cybersecurity magic bullet. Luckily, there is an excellent, international team of top-notch pros who are dedicated to working together to protect governments, businesses, and consumers from cyberthreats.
The future of international cybersecurity partnerships
3 things to consider
I had an opportunity to meet with some of these professionals as part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Delegation to Israel’s Cyber Week. Here are my takeaways from my time with the delegation that illustrate what’s next for international cybersecurity partnerships and why I’m optimistic about the future of cybersecurity:
1. We’re all in this together: coordination is key
The internet and everything it connects with transcends geopolitical boundaries, so securing the digital domain cannot be achieved by a single entity. There was broad acknowledgment from the various government personnel we met that no single person, company, or government can be fully responsible for all cybersecurity.
Rather, to thwart attackers, there must be international collaboration, cooperation, and coordination between both the public and private sectors. The leaders in cybersecurity all openly recognize that this is a team sport.
To win against attackers and keep people and infrastructure secure, open channels of communication and alignment are essential parts of a successful game plan. It was encouraging to hear that government officials working on cybersecurity across the globe from North America, Europe, and Asia all have strong relationships with one another and are in frequent contact.
Similarly, global cybersecurity firms like Akamai are partnering with governments throughout the world to help develop a cohesive operating picture and ensure that threats countered in one corner of the world are also blocked in the others.
2. We don’t have to do things in the same way to reach a common goal
There is momentum to coalesce cybersecurity efforts within governments; however, the varying sizes of each country’s government, the demands of their unique industries, and preferred organizational approaches mean that each country will need a unique method of addressing cybersecurity that may not be entirely replicable in every instance.
For example, securing cybersecurity systems in the United States is a task that requires the coordination of many parties, both within government and the private sector. The United States is working to strengthen existing cyber entities like the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and improve cybersecurity within the government.
However, as evidenced by the newly created National Cyber Director position, federal cybersecurity efforts cross multiple agencies and progress can be slow. Even with improved communication on cybersecurity within the federal government and with the private sector, responsibility for national cybersecurity does not reside in a single place.
Beyond that, sectors in the United States operate on an enormous scale. For example, there are thousands of banks, making information sharing and coordination among them a significant undertaking.
Conversely, smaller countries, like Israel, have more centralized systems in which government cybersecurity efforts are consolidated, and coordination with the private sector can be more manageable.
For instance, Israel’s Computer Emergency Response Team incorporates five sectoral subcenters focused on specific parts of the economy, including the National Incident Management Center, the financial sector, the government sector, the public security sector, and the energy sector. Housing all these security operations centers under one roof provides a level of visibility and coordination that would be hard to achieve in a larger country.
The scale of Israel’s operations is different from that in the United States, providing different opportunities to organize. For example, unlike the United States, Israel has dozens of banks, not thousands.
A one-size-fits-all approach will not work universally, so it was inspiring to hear how each country’s delegation is using its unique features to shape and defend its digital domain.
3. To further innovation, we need to ensure consumer trust
One moment that really stuck with me was an anecdote told by one of the other attendees. He pointed out that we used to have commercial supersonic airplane travel. However, after a couple of accidents, people lost confidence in the technology.
Today, despite having the know-how for decades, we no longer fly at supersonic speeds. He pointed out that there is a chance for a similar outcome with advancing technology if we aren’t careful to build a reliable and trustworthy mechanism to protect end users and critical infrastructure.
Ensuring continued confidence that technology is safe and dependable is a shared responsibility of both the public and private sectors. Reliance on technology is now part of the fabric of our everyday lives from the phones in our pockets to the GPS we use to get around to the online banking, shopping, and telemedicine that we regularly utilize without blinking an eye.
But we should not take this way of life for granted. Ensuring the security of these services is not a one-and-done obligation; we need to earn and continuously reinforce people’s trust to build the foundation for future progress. Without that, we risk losing momentum.
What’s next for international cybersecurity
Given the complexity of the cyber landscape, I’m glad we have so many experts working toward unified goals. I am optimistic that this collaborative community is taking the right steps to increase our collective cybersecurity. We will continue to see more international cooperation across a spectrum of activities, including collaboration on the best tools and security approaches to limit risk, cooperation across international borders to thwart cybercriminals and stop attacks, and revised approaches to protect essential services.
The idea of cybersecurity as an international team sport is not a given. It’s just as likely that these different entities will compete. Fortunately, many are currently working together toward a common goal: securing the online experience for consumers while protecting our businesses and critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.
