Читать книгу The Digital Big Bang - Phil Quade - Страница 20

SECTION 1 BINDING STRATEGIES:THE CORE OF CYBERSECURITY

The central parallel between the cosmic big bang and the digital big bang rests in their origins. The cosmic big bang unleashed the two central forces of matter and energy, inexorably connecting them in a way that has shaped and driven our entire existence. The invention of the Internet harnessed technological innovation to weld speed and connectivity—the central forces of the digital big bang equivalent to matter and energy—as a means of communication so powerful it has the potential to change the future of the human race.

Because speed and connectivity are the two primary elements of the Internet, harnessing their strengths and managing their risks must be the primary elements of any effective security strategy.

But too often cybersecurity is at odds with speed and connectivity.

THE NEED FOR SPEED

The Internet created a game-changing means to increase the velocity of information and the speed at which business can be done—to send data faster, accelerating the rate at which we can connect and communicate with others. Remember the days of sending data on disks through the mail? From those early academic uses, that connection has grown. Now the connection includes large-scale business and personal interests, contains our most sensitive health and financial information, and falls within the private and public sectors. Or we may use that connection for sheer entertainment.

The velocity with which we can now send and receive even massive amounts of data is staggering and getting faster every day. We can search for obscure facts, with answers in seconds; communicate in real time with people all over the world; and buy products with one easy click. Regardless of their use and application, today's systems of digital data transmission were designed to be faster than any other means at the time, and they have consistently exceeded that goal.

But to date, that speed has been a problem for defenders. Defensive systems often leach CPU cycles, forcing communication to slow down. When that happens, users often will simply turn off security features, leaving the network and its data vulnerable to attackers. To succeed, our security strategies must be based on leveraging that core philosophy of doing things at Internet speed.

THE DRIVE TO CONNECT

The Internet's creation was a testament to the power of collaboration. Researchers realized that they could achieve more insightful results by comparing and combining their efforts and getting access to remote computing resources.

The resulting architecture was designed around rich and resilient connectivity. As it matured, the Internet fulfilled deep needs for speed and connectivity—organizational, financial, physical, mental, and even emotional—which catalyzed its unprecedented proliferation.

But that highly desired connectivity also opened the door to attacks. Attackers soon learned that they could use connectivity to their advantage to achieve a malicious effect without being near their actual target. Adversaries now can launch attacks from multiple places, focusing their multifaceted barrage on points of weakness. Perhaps it is the central dilemma of cybersecurity: if you can connect with everybody, you can be reached by anybody.

Defenders should take the same architectural approach: design security that leverages connectivity.

HARNESSING SPEED AND CONNECTIVITY

Just as the cosmic big bang's fundamental forces of energy and matter must be carefully managed to achieve intended results, so too must speed and connectivity in the digital universe. For example, a split atom can do one of these two things:

 Blast and heat whole cities—Generate cool air in the summer and heated air in the winter via clean electricity from nuclear power plants

 Heat and blast whole cities—Generate fire and concussion via a nuclear weapon

Cybersecurity implementations must be efficient enough to enable both the highest possible safe speed at all times and the maximum reach and scope of connectivity.

Trying to build cybersecurity solutions that do not maintain speed and connectivity will fail, like an engineer who tries to ignore the laws of physics and chemistry. Just as the communication infrastructure of the Internet is based on a connected fabric of fast communication mechanisms, the security fabric that underpins communications also must be based on an integrated security strategy. Because speed and connectivity are the two primary elements of the Internet, harnessing their strengths and managing their risks must be the primary elements of any effective security strategy.