Cyber Scene #3

	Cyber Scene #3

This addition to the Newsletter is intended to provide an informative, timely backdrop of events, thinking, and developments that feed into technological advancement of Science of Security cybersecurity collaboration and extend its outreach.

US Executive and Legislative Branches’ Cybersecurity Activity; Private Sector Code Conference

The White House:

Cyber Scene #2 addressed the American Bar Association’s Law and National Security work on cybersecurity. On the executive side, the White House has called on Congress for legislative action to include over $22.1 billion in funding for the following Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) and its alliance with the private sector. CNAP highlights include calling upon working with the US Congress to:

• Establish a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity;
• Establish a National Cybersecurity Alliance with private sector giants;
• Create a $3.1 billion IT Modernization Fund to replace legacy systems with cyber-secure systems across National, State, Local, and Tribal lines;
• Include $19 billion in the FY17 Presidential budget for protection of financial services systems such as PayPal, Master Card, and Visa in addition to private sector tech giants (and Alliance members) such as Google, Microsoft, Dropbox and Facebook; and
• Name a New Federal Chief of Information Security Office.

Read more at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/09/fact-sheet-cybersecurity-national-action-plan

Relatedly, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) which is responsible, in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for advising the President on Federal S&T R&D prioritization and budget, and coordinating across those Federal agencies that have significant portfolios in science and technology, has released its R&D budget for 2017 to implement the CNAP. OSTP also administers the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) which coordinates research initiatives across Federal S&T agencies.
See: https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/rdbudgets

Congress:

The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee has established a bipartisan subcommittee on “Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies.”

This subcommittee has been holding hearings every few months, most recently on 24 May 2016, to probe particular complex and thorny issues. “Meet” the Subcommittee members (photos, bios) and activities, here.

Cyber Scene will continue to watch for any forward movement on implementation by Congress of any CNAP initiatives and continue to track ABA influence as well as Supreme Court actions related to cybersecurity.

Private Sector: Code Conference

The world's and US tech leaders concluded their 3-day, invitation only Code Conference on 2 June 2016 to project into the next 5 years of tech challenges and developments. The CEO’s of Amazon, Google, Twitter, the Gates, and many other brilliant luminaries who influence cybersecurity issues and the daily lives of everyone met over 3 days to exchange views. Among many outbriefs following the conference captured by PC Magazine, the NYTimes, and the media writ large, CISCO CEO Chuck Robbins cited as the #1 issue the need to dynamically defend against network threats now calculated at 20 billion per day. See more at: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000522641. For a broader readout of the conference and late-breaking off-shoots, see https://events.recode.net/events/code-conference/, and particularly explore both the press (including videos) and the trending drop downs.

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