Is the U.S. prepared for a cyber catastrophe? Business executives say, ‘no’

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Testifying before a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee, Karl Brondell of State Farm Insurance Companies warned that the U.S. is not adequately prepared for a cyber catastrophe.

The insurance executive outlined what a recent Business Roundtable report identified as gaps in current response plans for restoring the Internet following a catastrophic cyber disruption.

Brondell, a strategic consultant with State Farm, also detailed a series of Roundtable recommendations for government and businesses to improve identification and assessment of cyber disruptions, to coordinate responsibilities for Internet reconstitution, and to make needed investments in institutions with critical roles in Internet recovery.

The Roundtable report, Essential Steps Toward Strengthening America’s Cyber Terrorism Preparedness, found the U.S. is ill-prepared for a cyber catastrophe due to a lack of coordination between the public and private sectors that would be critical to restoring the Internet following a disaster.

“Progress has been made over the past decade on technical issues, such as establishing computer security readiness teams in government and gaining a better understanding of cyber risks,” Brondell testified.

Strategic issues

“However, other issues have not been addressed, such as strategic management and governance issues around reconstituting the economy and shoring up market confidence after a widescale Internet failure.”

Business Roundtable is an association of 160 CEOs of U.S. companies, and State Farm leads the Roundtable’s Cyber Security Working Group. The Roundtable report identified major gaps in the U.S. response plans to restore the Internet:

Inadequate Early Warning System – The U.S. lacks an early warning system to identify potential Internet attacks or determine if the disruptions are spreading rapidly.

Unclear and Overlapping Responsibilities – Public and private organizations that would oversee recovery of the Internet have unclear or overlapping responsibilities, resulting in too many institutions with too little coordination.

Insufficient Resources – Existing organizations and institutions charged with Internet recovery should have sufficient resources and support. For example, little of the National Cyber Security Division’s funding is for support of cyber recovery.

In its report, the Roundtable concluded that these gaps in response plans mean the U.S. is not sufficiently prepared for a major incident that would lead to disruption of large parts of the Internet and the economy.

Topics Cyber Catastrophe USA