The New Policy World of Cybersecurity

As government agencies, private sector corporations, the military, and even retail shoppers shift their activities to the Internet, cybersecurity becomes increasingly important. Past presidential administrations recognized that cybersecurity necessitates a comprehensive national policy to protect electronically transmitted and stored information from intrusion. But so far, development of a coherent cybersecurity policy has proven to be a daunting task. A feasible policy framework that systematically arrays the issues and specifies parameters of constraints is lacking, and articulated policies and strategies are narrowly focused and implemented incrementally. The authors argue that recent government documents related to cyberspace form a positive foundation on which to build a comprehensive policy. Despite the incremental nature of cybersecurity progress, these key documents represent a cumulative process on which to build future policy.