CHDS Director Ted Lewis' Remarks on Cyber Insecurity

Last week, NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) director Dr. Ted Lewis posted a blog entry, "Cyber Insecurity: Black Swan or Headline?", onto the Homeland Security Watch blog site.

The post addresses the new concept of "cyber insecurity" and its relationship to the United States' deep-rooted "military industrial complex" (or the "Iron Triangle"), a system that Dr. Lewis asserts is making cyber insecurity into the next "Black Swan" of homeland security in order to generate increased defense spending.

Dr. Lewis describes cyber insecurity as the "real and imagined security gaps in the global information and communication network infrastructure." While "real" cyber security gaps may exist in U.S. defenses, Dr. Lewis indicates that the "imagined" gaps are proving to be the main focus of the Iron Triangle's future defense programs. Due to "perceived increases in cyber threats," such as "TCP/IP monoculture, […] flawed software, and lack of adequate precautions," he states that "vast sums of money are pouring into cyber security," rather than traditional security.

Although researchers claim that "cyber attacks cost an average of $8.9 million per organization in the US," and "exploits against consumers, such as phishing […] and online fraud" can run in the billions, Dr. Lewis contests that these statistics are often exaggerated and sometimes even fabricated. What is known, however, is that traditional crime, such as car accidents, medical accidents, and natural disasters, has cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion - "a number several orders of magnitude greater than the most pessimistic scholarly estimates of cyber crime."

For this reason, Dr. Lewis reminds us that, "so far, nobody has died from a cyber attack," and that substantial policies and strategies, rather than headlines, need to be created before the Iron Triangle can begin to combat cyber insecurity - both real and imagined.

In addition to serving as the director of CHDS, Dr. Ted Lewis is Professor of Computer Science and National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School. His expertise and interests include Critical Infrastructure, Vulnerability Analysis, Risk Analysis, Resource Allocation and Budgeting, and Network Analysis. Dr. Lewis also boasts a thirty year publication record, contributing to more than 100 publications to date. Some of his recent works include "Bak's Sand Pile: Strategies for a Catastrophic World," "Network Science: Theory and Applications," and "Critical Infrastructure Protection in Homeland Security: Defending a Networked Nation."

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