Public, Private Sectors at Odds Over Cyber Security

ACM TechNews reported an article in the Los Angeles Times on the rift between corporate America and the federal government over who should make the repairs to the Internet, given focus by three recent, significant computer security breaches. To wit, over the past few months law enforcement officials busted an international ring that accessed customer databases and trafficked tens of millions of credit card numbers. a researcher discovered a serious flaw in the Domain Name System that could allow hackers to redirect users to fake versions of popular Web sites, and computer attacks have been used to cripple the country of Georgia's internet capabilities.

That said, little has been done to make cybersecurity a more dominant issue.

"Nothing is happening," said Jerry Dixon, the former director of the National Cyber Security Division at the Department of Homeland Security. "This has got to be in the top five national security priorities."

While the government has argued that the private sector is better suited to tackle the broader problem, big corporations say it's too big for them to handle.

See full article in the Los Angeles Times.