This is a fresh piece of thinking around transforming cybersecurity, brought by Public Knowledge in a recent white paper titled “Securing the Modern Economy: Transforming Cybersecurity Through Sustainability“. It highlights the benefits and parallels one can discern from the field of sustainability and how the same may be weaved around the management of cybersecurity to make it more effective.
“The current approach to cybersecurity, compliance-based and narrowly focused risk management, has failed to protect the online ecosystem”, Public Knowledge said in the white paper that proposes reframing perspectives for approaching cybersecurity.
The paper is authored by Megan Stifel, who directed international cyber policy as part of President Obama’s National Security Council and currently leads cybersecurity policy for Public Knowledge.
Based on a model of shared responsibility similar to that employed by the environmental movement, Stifel is making recommendations for civil society, industry and government, with the report calling on federal officials to improve “incentives for stakeholders to implement sustainable cybersecurity, including by revaluating liability frameworks.”
“If you are responsible for generating toxic waste you can get sued by the EPA,” Stifel said. “Similarly, if you’ve got funky code that leads to the breach of sensitive information, if there’s some kind of liability framework where you would be required to pay a penalty, effectively, the concern over the penalty and the reputational harm, sets the stage for more sustainable, responsible, stewardship of the internet ecosystem.”
Read the paper by clicking the button below.
