Our government is working to protect their Internet presence by passing a bill that allows them the right to shut down a private businesses ability to operate in the event of a Cyber attack. This bill is S.773 – Cybersecurity Act of 2009. I have always stated that in my opinion the majority of small businesses have no clue about how to protect their own network so I can understand their point of view. If you have read my past blogs you will see that it is my opinion that most small businesses do not have the knowledge or talent to protect their own networks. The problem I see is that government should not have the right to take away a business’s ability to operate and they should never be given direct access to the data or hardware of the private sector. I am not comfortable with the idea that our government has access to the routers, firewalls or data streams of our nations businesses. This bill takes away the rights of our business to function and it could be abused and take away a business’s right of privacy.
This bill could potentially be used to jeopardize protected data held by all personal businesses connected to the Internet. A packet analyzer is a simple program that traps all data sent from one computer to another and could be used to trap all data transmissions for later review. If you really want to have a conspiracy theory this bill could potentially make software required that will make all systems become directly available and controlled by our government. In my personal opinion any of these options are a direct violation of our rights under the Constitution of the United States.
I am opening this blog with these two questions
1. Are you comfortable with the idea that the government wants the ability take away your access to the Internet?
2. Would you be whiling to allow the government to have direct access or control of your network or computer?
I have been working as an IT consultant for some time and I specialize in network access. I have seen government networks that needed attention on their own security model. The idea that they need access to a network that I secure to me is not a valid option and a direct violation of our rights. S.773 should not be allowed to pass in its current form. I do believe that it should be required for small business to work towards network security and possibly even required to pass a security analysis and be certified to operate. At the same time all government agencies from federal to local should be certified in the same manner.
What do you think?
Jeff Perry
http://www.advnetworking.com
