Public Private Partnerships in Cyberspace: Building a Sustainable Collaboration

Much has been written about the legal rights and interests of government, private industry and individual users in the cyberspace. However, relatively little has been written about how codes of conduct, public private partnerships, standards and collaborative efforts can be used to structure advancement in technological knowledge for the benefits of all users and how these efforts can better prioritize the rights and responsibilities of each of the actors in cyberspace. This paper presents a conceptual framework for building sustainable partnerships between government and private industry and looks to models of successful partnerships both nationally and internationally. The paper provides an overview of the various collaborations and conflicts in these partnerships, and the governance and organizational issues involved in protecting American cybersecurity. Based on empirical research and an analysis of national and international cybersecurity partnership initiatives, legislation and policies, this paper explores the issues impacting a cohesive, integrated, unified strategy between the government and the private sector including the issues of governance, incentives, risk sharing and the transnational nature of cyberspace. Recent government frameworks are analyzed including the proposed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), the President's Executive Order (EO) 13636, "Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity," and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework launched in February 2014. In the course of the research, the author has interviewed various government and private sector experts on national intelligence and cybersecurity and has analyzed relevant documents, data, case studies and government and private industry reports concerning the present and future challenges they face in developing viable public private partnerships. The research thus far has resulted in a better understanding of the major issues in cybersecurity and national intelligence and the importance of partnerships and information sharing as a critical component of advancing the goals of both domains in advancing world peace and private sector interests.