NSA Chief: ‘Uneven’ Cooperation Between Public, Private Sectors Impedes Cyber Defenses

Adm. Michael Rogers, head of the National Security Agency (NSA), recently explained to the Wall Street Journal CEO Council that “uneven” cooperation among the private sector and the government has led to a “literal onslaught” of malicious cyber-attacks from both state-sponsored hackers and cybercriminals across the globe. What’s more, the number of hackers is “so large and so diverse” that cybercriminals are nearly impossible to identify before a hacking attempt is made. Nearly two-thirds of hackers are looking to hack personal and financial information for monetary gain while the rest are said to be state-supported hackers. To assist the government in the war against cybercrime, Rogers explained that company execs must personally engage in cybersecurity, which cannot be the sole responsibility of IT departments in this day in age. “You need to shape the discussion,” he said. “I don’t pretend that this needs to totally dominate your life, but there is a significant role for you to play.”
In a poll at the CEO conference, just 9 percent said they would never trust the government with their information during a cyber-attack. However, 34 percent said they would cooperate only if it was their own company being attacked. Lastly, 57 percent would “readily cooperate.” While the government has made recent efforts to increase cyber threat information sharing, particularly through the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) and DHS’ free Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) capability, private entities have so far been slow to participate. Nonetheless, Rogers explained to the group of CEOs, “If you want me to defend something, I can’t do it from the outside,” he said. “I can’t defend something if I don’t have access to the network structure – it’s like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.”