White House Sets Cybersecurity R&D Priorities

InformationWeek: The White House has released a new report titled “Trustworthy Cyberspace: Strategic Plan for the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Program,” which sets forth a strategy for the federal government to address Internet security issues. “Given the magnitude and pervasiveness of cyberspace threats to our economy and national security, it is imperative that we fundamentally alter the dynamics in cybersecurity through the development of novel solutions and technologies,” wrote U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra and Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt. “The federal government is in a unique position to leverage its fundamental research resources to address the underlying causes of cybersecurity problems.”

The new plan addresses four areas: inducing change to create more “moving targets” for hackers, addressing cybersecurity as a science, improving collaboration and coordination among agencies, and shortening the amount of time it takes to put research projects into practice.