FBI Official Backs Alternative Internet to Secure Critical Systems
With malicious perpetrators increasingly devising sophisticated, complex attacks against critical systems controlling critical infrastructure, such as power plants and financial institutions, the time has come to consider a new secure alternative Internet, according to a top government official.
The threats facing critical systems are not going away, and the systems can never be secure enough to thwart the attacks completely, said Shawn Henry, the executive assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told attendees at an International Systems Security Association conference in Baltimore Oct. 20. Cyber-threats will always evolve and outpace efforts to defend networks, he said.
One way to protect critical utility and financial systems would be to set up a secure Internet that was separate from the regular public Internet, Henry said. The alternative Internet would not allow anonymity, and only known and trusted individuals would have access to the systems, he said. "We can't 'tech' our way out of the cyber-threat," Henry said, noting that not knowing who was launching the attack made defenses a "challenge."
