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Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace (2007)

Chapter: Part I Setting the Stage

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Suggested Citation:"Part I Setting the Stage." National Research Council and National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11925.
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Part I
Setting the Stage

Part I of this report consists of three chapters. Chapter 1, “Introduction,” provides a brief overview of the report and describes how this study came into being.

Chapter 2, “What Is at Stake?,” describes what is at stake in realizing (or failing to realize) a more secure cyberspace. Specifically, it notes today’s dependence on computing and communications technologies for myriad applications, and it projects a future of “pervasive computing” in which information technology will be ubiquitously integrated into everyday objects in order to enhance their usefulness and in which these “smart objects” will be interconnected in ways that further multiply their usefulness. In this context, the chapter addresses the nature of cybersecurity vulnerabilities, explores some of their consequences, and characterizes various parties that pose a threat to cybersecurity.

Chapter 3, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity Posture,” characterizes the vision of the National Research Council’s Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the United States—embodied in the Cybersecurity Bill of Rights—of what a more secure cyberspace would look like, and it underscores the key role that research will necessarily play in achieving such a vision. Most importantly, Chapter 3 lays out a set of principles driving an ongoing research agenda.

Suggested Citation:"Part I Setting the Stage." National Research Council and National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11925.
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Suggested Citation:"Part I Setting the Stage." National Research Council and National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11925.
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Suggested Citation:"Part I Setting the Stage." National Research Council and National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11925.
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Page 14
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Given the growing importance of cyberspace to nearly all aspects of national life, a secure cyberspace is vitally important to the nation, but cyberspace is far from secure today. The United States faces the real risk that adversaries will exploit vulnerabilities in the nation’s critical information systems, thereby causing considerable suffering and damage. Online e-commerce business, government agency files, and identity records are all potential security targets.

Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace examines these Internet security vulnerabilities and offers a strategy for future research aimed at countering cyber attacks. It also explores the nature of online threats and some of the reasons why past research for improving cybersecurity has had less impact than anticipated, and considers the human resource base needed to advance the cybersecurity research agenda. This book will be an invaluable resource for Internet security professionals, information technologists, policy makers, data stewards, e-commerce providers, consumer protection advocates, and others interested in digital security and safety.

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