Cyber Problems Will Remain, Says Northrop Grumman’s Bob Brammer
Dr. Bob Brammer
As troubling news emerges about America not being ready for a potential cyber war, more companies are becoming acutely aware of the importance of preparing for web-based attacks.
“If we went to war today in a cyber war, we would lose,” said former Director of National Security and National Intelligence Michael McConnell during a hearing Tuesday on cybersecurity held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The hearing came a little more than month after Google revealed it and other U.S. companies had been targeted in a series of cyber attacks originating in China. The Chinese government, however, quickly denied the allegations, calling them groundless.
Cyber attacks are not only the concern for media conglomerates like Google. According to a 2005 FBI computer crime survey of 2,000 public and private U.S. organizations, almost nine out of 10 organizations had experienced computer-security incidents in a year’s time; 20 percent of them indicated they had experienced 20 or more attacks.
In a recent interview with ExecutiveBiz, Bob Brammer, vice president for advanced technology at Northrop Grumman Information Systems, said one of reasons behind the collaboration between Northrop Grumman, Carnegie Mellon, MIT and Purdue to form a cybersecurity research consortium was that the threats against infrastructure and computer networks are at an all-time high.
Brammer, one of the most influential people in the security industry according to Security Magazine, said Northrop Grumman is working to implement a continuing structure that would allow advanced research to be done “because these problems aren’t going away any time soon.”
“What we hope to accomplish … in terms of ultimate deliverables [is to] get some advanced technology and processes that will scale up to the large operations that our customers have,” he said. “Northrop Grumman deals primarily in the public sector and with the very largest and most complex programs. What we produce from our research really has to be, not only innovative but it also has to be scalable to address these very large operations.”
Brammer said while cybersecurity is an important national priority, it still has to compete with other, equally important issues, such as employment, security, energy and climate change.
“[The president] has to make sure that cybersecurity is getting enough attention so that action can be taken,” he said. “There are a number of bills on the Hill; in fact, the House just passed a bill relating to cybersecurity research and so forth, which has now gone to the Senate. It’s not clear that any of this major legislature will pass this year, unless there is some real action taken. I think that will be another priority.”
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