CPDP 2016: Securing cyber critical infrastructure.
Securing cyber critical infrastructure
Organized by University of Haifa
Chair: Tal Zarsky, University of Haifa (IL)
Moderator: Isabel Skierka, Global Public Policy Institute (DE)
Panel Amit Ashkenazi, National Cyber Bureau (IL), Bryan Cunningham, Cunningham Levy Muse (US), Bibi van den Berg, Leiden University (NL), Michel van Leeuwen, Cyber-Security Policy Department (NL)
Cyber-attacks against critical infrastructure are, no doubt, threats that might compromise important state interests and bring real harm to civilians. In many instances these attacks feed off existing vulnerabilities and target private entities. Recent reports indicate the risks of such attacks as well as possible vulnerabilities that make them a reality. Consequently, governments are currently struggling to find the proper regulatory response to these emerging challenges. Clearly, this issue calls for innovative cooperation between the public and private realm, yet it is still unclear what the optimal manner to facilitate such an exchange is. It also calls for a novel role for the state in enabling information flows among entities in real time, as well as coordinating responses and collecting intelligence. At the same time, commercial entities are developing substantial expertise in this field, which must be properly integrated into the overall technological and regulatory scheme. This panel will approach the following, as well as other, difficult and extremely timely questions:
Which private entities should be subjected to a governmental protective regulatory scheme?
What is the proper role for government - to provide guidance, facilitate information transfer, mandate standards or to have a more proactive and aggressive role?
Might the regulatory framework prove harmful by enabling rent seeking and promoting regulatory capture?
Will the regulatory steps compromise human and other essential rights?