Cybersecurity Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Cybersecurity concerns keeping the space provided by the computer and the Internet safe for the various users of the technology. Section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 clearly outlines the concerns of the U.S. government when it comes to cybersecurity in the following words: “The term ‘cybersecurity’ means the prevention of damage to, the protection of, and the restoration of computers, electronic communications systems, electronic communication services, wire communication, and electronic communication, including information contained therein, to ensure its availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and nonrepudiation.” Such a concern operates on several different levels and indicates how various activities bordering on the illegal and the criminal are within the purview of what constitutes the concern of cybersecurity.

ISSUES

Protecting users from criminal and illegal activities in cyberspace necessitates deter mining what these activities are. Michael Margolis and David Resnick outline two types of cybercrimes: network crimes and computer crimes. Network crimes are activities that use the Internet but do not necessarily entail corrupting or breaking into computers. People are the victims of these crimes, such as gambling and pornography, in much the same way as those committed in the real world. Various crimes committed in cyberspace, such as consumer fraud, stock manipulation, and various types of sexual predation, resemble life offline with their share of scammers, crooks, and predators. Thus law enforcement officials and government agencies have had to develop expertise in fighting particular types of crimes that follow crooks into cyberspace, such as “hacker hunting.”

In contrast, computer crimes may or may not employ the Internet in committing the crime; a computer is its target. People are victims only in the sense that the computer is the object of the activity, that is, hacking into computers to steal data, spread computer viruses or worms, and disable computer systems. As a result, policing the Internet has become a routine activity.

Remedies

Cybersecurity standards have also been created because sensitive information is now frequently stored on computers that are attached to the Internet. This affects the individual, businesses, and governments equally. Many tasks that were once done by hand are now carried out by computer, thus the need for security to guard against information theft, which leads to identity theft. Businesses need security to protect trade secrets, proprietary information, and customers’ personal information. The government also needs to secure their information. This has been particularly critical after 9/11, since some terrorist acts are organized and facilitated by using the Internet.

Various protection programs address the protection of data against unauthorized access. Data can be secured by issuing passwords and digital certificates to authorized users. To go beyond authorization to authentication, the use of digital certificates and biometric techniques (fingerprints, eyes, voice, etc.) provide a more secure method. Beyond user authentication, sensitive data can be further protected through encryption, which prevents information from getting into the wrong hands.

Computer systems use various cybersecurity technologies to remedy threats; these include the use of routers, firewalls, antivirus protection software, intrusion detection systems, intrusion protection systems, and auditing and monitoring computer usage. Various risk management strategies and techniques, as well as training and education, are valued in protecting the network.

Order Versus Freedom

There are those, however, who view all of this protection as a threat to individual liberty, one’s quality of life, and human dignity. There clearly is a struggle between the measures to protect privacy and safeguard intellectual property and the measures that are undertaken to ensure that law and order is enforced in cyberspace. It seems that self-regulation and voluntary enforcement procedures such as shunning, flaming, and blocking people from e-mail lists and forums can no longer be used as enforcement mechanisms. Closing down illegal operations and fining and imprisoning lawbreakers are now becoming necessary with the advent of laws governing relationships in cyberspace. However, state-sponsored surveillance and commercially motivated data collection done without the consent and knowledge of the entity under surveillance can lead to cries of lost freedom.

Thus the dilemma for those who are concerned with cybersecurity is whether the primary goal should be security and order first, and freedom and access second, or vice versa. For security advocates on the national defense level, where there is constant fear of giving away too much information about high-value targets, the goal is certainly law and order first. Freedom of access is secondary for security agencies but is not necessarily so for the ordinary user.

Bibliography:

Crumlish, Christian. The Power of Many. Alameda, Calif.: Sybex, 2004.
Klotz, Robert J. The Politics of Internet Communication. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.
Margolis, Michael, and David Resnick. Politics as Usual. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2000.
Rheingold, Howard. Smart Mobs. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Group, 2002.
Speed,Tim, and Juanita Ellis. Internet Security. Amsterdam: Digital Press, 2003.
Thomas,Tom. Network Security First-step. Indianapolis, Ind.: Cisco Press, 2004.