5G Technology World

  • 5G Technology and Engineering
  • FAQs
  • Apps
  • Devices
  • IoT
  • RF
  • Radar
  • Wireless Design
  • Learn
    • 5G Videos
    • Ebooks
    • EE Training Days
    • FAQs
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Webinars/Digital Events
  • Handbooks
    • 2024
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021
  • Resources
    • Design Guide Library
    • EE World Digital Issues
    • Engineering Diversity & Inclusion
    • Engineering Training Days
    • LEAP Awards
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Cybersecurity Panelists Call for Long-Term, Global Approach to Securing Free and Open Network

By Staff Author | February 17, 2015

At a Stanford forum, White House officials, researchers and educators discuss how to stay ahead of hackers and protect a rapidly changing and expanding network.

John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, said free and open networks are easier to penetrate than defend. (Photo: Rod Searcey)On the eve of President Obama’s Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, a senior White House official visited Stanford Engineering to ask researchers and educators to help solve the conundrum of having free and open networks.

“It is easier to penetrate than to defend,” said John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and keynote speaker at a 90-minute event that drew more than 400 attendees and was webcast and recorded for online viewers.

Holdren, who is also Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, characterized his appearance at the February 12 panel discussion as the long-term complement to the call to action the president would issue the following day.

“New attack vectors are opening faster than we can identify them,” Holdren said, adding that even as the nation works to stop breaches today, our goal must also be to “transform the cybersecurity landscape in a 10- to 20-year timeframe” to give defenders rather than attackers the upper hand.

Larry Kramer, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which last year provided the funding to launch the Stanford Cybersecurity Initiative, kicked off the panel discussion by observing that networks already touch so many aspects of daily life, both here and abroad, even as new online applications, such as self-driving cars, approach rapidly.

“How are we going to make this work over time,” Kramer asked rhetorically, noting that networks – whether speaking of vulnerabilities or countermeasures – crossed state and national boundaries, challenging our legal and rule-making processes.

“At some point we’re going to have to think about multilateral solutions,” said Kramer, a former dean of Stanford Law School, stressing that a long horizon is essential given how rapidly technology is advancing.

“Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to make a path without knowing where you want to go,” he said.

John Mitchell, a professor of computer science and Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at Stanford, noted how computing had evolved during his career from the province of specialists to ubiquitous tools for interpersonal communications.

The challenge is to continue expanding the benefits of connectivity while minimizing the risks, he said.

“We are making progress,” said Mitchell, who is also the Mary and Gordon Crary Professor in the School of Engineering. “There are good people in universities and industry trying to solve this.”

Parisa Tabriz, who leads the Chrome security team of hired hackers at Google, used her remarks to echo observations about vulnerability and highlight some of the tactics her company employs to protect itself.

“Defenders have to protect every vulnerability,” said Tabriz, who also contracts with the U.S. Digital Service. “Hackers have to find only one.”

Google’s strategies include paying outside programmers to spot and report vulnerabilities, and holding “think like a hacker” classes that ask its own engineers to imagine they are on the other side.

How to teach and recruit security specialists was a theme running through the event. Patricia Falcone, Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, moderated the discussion, asking at one point: “How are we going to find people? How are we going to train them?”

Her question harkened back to Holdren’s remarks about the cybersecurity workforce being expected to grow 12 times faster than the job market as a whole, making it all the more imperative to recruit women and underrepresented minorities.

Cynthia Dwork, a distinguished scientist and security specialist at Microsoft, raised the issue of privacy on the panel, and noted how such concerns must be considered in looking at network design and capabilities over the long term.

Dwork cited the growing sophistication of techniques that can “read our emotions” through inferences derived from online behavior, not a security issue per se, but germane to the consumer protection aspects of the president’s national discussion.

Referring to such techniques designed to “keep us in the buying mood,” Dwork added: “These are very real concerns. They are going to come up.”

Questions from the public posed via Twitter were put to the panel by Stanford law Professor George Triantis, a professor of law and co-director of the Stanford Cybersecurity Initiative steering committee. When Triantis asked what individuals could do to protect themselves, Tabriz recommended strong passwords.

Holdren wrapped up the session by reiterating a principle theme – that the long-term imperative is for industry, academia and government to make security consciousness central to network design.

“As President Obama frequently puts it, this will be an all hands on deck effort,” Holdren said.

For more information visit http://engineering.stanford.edu.


Filed Under: RF

 

Next Article

← Previous Article
Next Article →

Related Articles Read More >

Butler Matrix
Butler Matrix drives Wi-Fi and other phased-array antennas
Long-wire dipole antennas: still viable after more than a century
RemCom Wireless InSite 4.0
Software simulates RF conditions from the Earth to the Moon
FAQ on the Butler matrix for beamforming: part 2

Featured Contributions

  • Overcome Open RAN test and certification challenges
  • Wireless engineers need AI to build networks
  • Why AI chips need PCIe 7.0 IP interconnects
  • circuit board timing How timing and synchronization improve 5G spectrum efficiency
  • Wi-Fi 7 and 5G for FWA need testing
More Featured Contributions

EE TECH TOOLBOX

“ee
Tech Toolbox: 5G Technology
This Tech Toolbox covers the basics of 5G technology plus a story about how engineers designed and built a prototype DSL router mostly from old cellphone parts. Download this first 5G/wired/wireless communications Tech Toolbox to learn more!

EE LEARNING CENTER

EE Learning Center
“5g
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, tools and strategies for EE professionals.

Engineering Training Days

engineering
“bills
5G Technology World
  • Enews Signup
  • EE World Online
  • DesignFast
  • EDABoard Forums
  • Electro-Tech-Online Forums
  • Microcontroller Tips
  • Analogic Tips
  • Connector Tips
  • Engineer’s Garage
  • EV Engineering
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy

Search 5G Technology World