A Dartmouth-led report proposes revolutionary policy changes that can effectively leverage private sector actors to scale up U.S. offensive cyber operations in response to the federal government's call for grassroots innovation in cybersecurity.
The report encapsulated insights from a policy roundtable co-hosted by the Institute for Security, Technology and Society with Meeting New Challenges of Cybersecurity Academic Cluster and the Atlantic Council, a think tank in the field of international affairs, that convened thirty experts from government, industry, academia, and venture capital at Dartmouth this October.
Offensive cybersecurity preemptively identifies vulnerabilities and security weaknesses before an attacker exploits them. Private sector actors already provide offensive cyber tools, accesses, and effects to the U.S. government, the authors note, but current top-down cyber policy prevents private innovation from moving up the chain.
The document identifies gaps where US Government can take massive advantage of private innovation, and lays down the principles of doing so responsibly, says co-author and Dartmouth College Distinguished Professor in Cyber Security, Technology, and Society Sergey Bratus.
This approach would not only help address the United States’ cyber vulnerabilities, but also deter adversaries and criminals from exploiting our weaknesses, the authors write.