Cybercrime by organized criminals and foreign Governments is fast becoming a national security issue, and America's businesses are on the front line.
Don't leave the critical million small businesses out of the new cyber-security plan.
In President Obama's first 100 days, there have been high-profile break-in's of the companies that operate our national electric power grid, suppliers to our defense industrial base, and even the oil rigs just off the California coast. The common denominator with these examples and many more is the lack of security preparedness among America's 'critical million' small and mid-sized businesses.
In addition to the common criminal, determined attacks are now coming from well organized and well funded groups, including foreign governments, global organized crime, and terror organizations, and are stealing (or worse) from smaller companies that haven't the resources nor inclination to shore up their defenses to the level of a Fortune 500 company. The full force of this global criminal infrastructure can now be aimed at anyone, anywhere, at anytime, with devastating effect.
Were this only a cybercrime issue, this new shift toward attacking America's heartland companies would be bad enough. But it's not, it's worse. With our economy in recession, and our national security now inseparably linked to our economic well being, key targets now include our business supply chains, critical infrastructure, and the labs and universities which feed American ingenuity and secure our prosperity.
The president needs to extend our national security umbrella beyond the Pentagon and Fortune 500 companies, and find a way to help the 'critical million' companies across America that are the life blood of our economy. Between the FBI and other Government agencies, America does a good job helping the larger companies protect themselves from these threats. It's that next layer of a million critical companies that represent the softest targets, and therefore the biggest risk to America.
The president now has several influential recommendations ranging from the long awaited Melissa Hathaway cybersecurity report to leading intelligence and security associations, all calling for inclusion of these critical million companies. But traditional methods employed by the FBI, NSA, DoD and others will not scale to a million -- and thus new approaches must be utilized.
With the advent of mobile computing and social media on the Internet, it's now possible to reach the leaders of these million companies, build long-term trusted relationships, and provide meaningful assistance -- all within current budgets.
The vast majority of these critical million companies do not have a full time security officer, nor is security a top five business issue for them, so talking to them in security terms, without respect for their pressing business issues, is a non-starter. We need to take our national intelligence and law enforcement information, and transform it into something they can and will use in their real world. Hollywood is the best in the world at communicating, and with the right public/private partnerships, could be a huge asset in the defense of America.
Our national security infrastructure needs to meet these companies on LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, educate them with specifically targeted advice, train them with educational gaming and video vignettes on YouTube, and inform them with iPhone and Blackberry apps that work in real time. Between the Internet, entertainment, and media industries, we have the technology and creativity to reach every one of these companies in a way that helps them help themselves. While this type of new thinking is difficult for a Government bureaucracy entrenched in its old ways, outreach like this is being done successfully in the business world today, and fits within this high-tech President's mandate of change.
President Obama has just chosen a very tech-savvy CIO and CTO, both of whom understand the reach and efficiencies of the Internet. As he prepares to select his first cyber-czar, and his national intelligence teams begin to pull together the disparate forces in defense of the companies that make up our economic lifeblood, it's critical to fully leverage public/private partnerships, the latest Internet technologies, and most creative new media strategies, when looking to reach, educate, and defend America.
Tom Patterson is the founder of the National Security Grid and author of "Mapping Security."
Dave Szady is the former FBI deputy director and America's first National Counter-Intelligence Executive
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