Obama flags off action plan for Cybersecurity research

It is a landmark moment in the history of Internet. In May 2009, President Barack Obama had set forth the guidelines for initiating a 10-point research program that would ensure optimal security standards in the cyberspace, especially for the federal IT framework. The first step toward realizing this vision has just begun, as the strategic plan — Trustworthy Cyberspace: Strategic Plan for the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Program — rolled off few days back.

The program would focus on four key strategies in order to make it work effectively. The first step, Inducing Change, is an effort into realizing the loopholes in current mechanism of the cybersecurity and the ground reasons for their existence. The second step, Developing Scientific Foundations, focuses on developing a security model for cyber space so that such vulnerabilities can be abstained. The third step, Maximizing Research Impact, involves taking the level of efficacy of federal research much higher by implementing a better coordination and cooperation system. The fourth and final step, Accelerating Transition to Practice, sets in place the guidelines for transit by ameliorating the standards.

The need to improvise and consequently expedite the necessary changes was long due. As the President himself had asserted back in that summer of 2009, “This new approach starts at the top, with this commitment from me: From now on, our digital infrastructure – the networks and computers we depend on every day – will be treated as they should be: as a strategic national asset.”

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has invited the researchers and innovators from IT and academic fields to work together with the agencies for an optimal deliverance into the making of a cyber-secure nation.

Visit the official blog release on OSTP webpage.