Is It Enough?

The U.S. cyber craze recently celebrated its first birthday. Jim Garrettson over at The New New Internet points out that the nation -- and the Obama administration -- in the past year have come a long way in addressing cyber threats and boosting security across government.

For example, he says that the appointment of Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt, the numerous bills floating around in Congress and the administration's new web forum to solicit "game-changing" cybersecurity ideas are examples of positive steps.

However, he also points out that all this may not be enough to really mount effective defenses against constantly evolving threats. In a Washington Post article, Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government Belfer Center advisor Melissa Hathaway, who also chaired the Cyberspace Policy Review, wrote:

This approach demands leadership from the White House and Congress that is difficult to muster in hard economic times. The lesson of the past two decades is that the nation will not get serious about cybersecurity until the costs of not doing so are more apparent -- probably after some component of our economy is destroyed by a catastrophic cyber-event.

So what else can the administration do, or what will be the catastrophic event that prompts them to act?