Lieutenant Alexander, who has worked as Director of NSA for four years, emphasised the importance of NSA, the information security industry and the department of homeland security working together as a team to protect against the highest threats. “Our role [NSA] is technical support. We need to work together as a team though, it has to be part of a bigger effort. We do not run cybersecurity for the US government – we’ll help to lead, but we need partnership with others”.
Admitting mistakes on behalf of NSA, Lieutenant Alexander assured the audience that NSA do self-report mistakes to over-seers. “We tell people what we do, and what we’re going to do to fix it. We have a responsibility to do this”.
Lieutenant Alexander emphasised the need to balance civil liberties and security. “You often get the impression that you must choose between civil liberties or cybersecurity, but we have the ability to do both. That’s what we deserve” he said.
“The digital revolution is huge, and it’s great” Lieutenant Alexander marvelled. “The kids are digitally connected. What we’ve built is huge and we’ve put it all onto one network. There are tremendous capabilities for the future. But with that, are tremendous vulnerabilities - and that’s where you come in” he said, speaking to his audience.
“The problem” he continued, “is that all communications are together – there’s not one network to attack on, and one to defend on. It’s not just the US on a network either. It’s all of the world together – which is part of the issue. Look at the evolution – America’s businesses and government runs on this network – everything we do. Our national security is on there – that’s the problem”.
Lieutenant Alexander mocked the suggestion that NSA are collecting all of the two million emails that are sent every second around the world, but drew attention to the 4,000 websites on which terrorist groups are active. “How do we differentiate the good from the bad on this global network?” he asked. “An adversary wishing to destroy the US only has to mess up the computer systems of its banks by high-tech means to destroy the country’s economy”.
Drawing on the example of Estonia, Lieutenant Alexander emphasised how easy it is to go from “cybercrime to cyber-warfare”.
“We have to protect our nation” he enforced, rhetorically asking “Our allies [the industry], how we work together to prevent critical attack. We need to figure out how to protect our secrets while working with industry to protect our nation”.
“As a government we need to secure military networks, and we also need to protect privacy and civil liberties. We’re better when we work together”, he continued.
Lieutenant Alexander listed the following four action points as essential in NSA’s mission to protect the nation:
- Team to protect classified and national security networks
- Learn to protect against highest threats
- Be prepared to help protect nation during key events
- Share lessons learned, technology, training with DHS; enhance shared situational awareness
Finally, Lieutenant Alexander congratulated the industry on its work thus far. “You have a tough job and are tremendous at what you do”. He also paid a compliment to Melissa Hathaway and her team, “What they’ve done is superb. She is making great leaps”.
“We need to figure out how to secure this superb new era of technology” Lieutenant Alexander concluded.