The Future of Cybersecurity
LaToya Crook
BCC/403
October 26, 2015
Professor David Pettinari

The Future of Cybersecurity
The world in which we live is becoming more socially connected than ever before. It seems that technological advances have met, if not exceeded, anyone's expectations as new ways to communicate continue to develop. Due to the innovations of mobile connections, global technologies, and the ominous cloud, information can be shared and accessed at the touch of a screen or the sound of one's voice. Digital equipment that were unheard of just five years ago now inundates both professional and personal arenas. As a result, organizations, as well as their employees, have begun to feel the pressure placed on them to address current and potential threats to the security of their systems and clients (CloudTweaks, 2013).
Cybercriminals can retrieve and analyze information gained through technological access from a single business or entity and use such confidential data to give competitive advantages to other organizations, to satisfy the requests of influential individuals, or to benefit national security. The World Wide Web permits immediate and boundless communication and the ability to interface on a global level, which can have its downfalls just as much as its benefits. Unapproved access to, and abuse of, information, technology and fundamental systems can irreparably damage a person or organization’s character, financial status, sense of stability and, in specific instances, physical well-being. Cyber attacks are becoming more frequent, more complex and more effective as hackers develop new ways to reach a greater number of victims. Due to the anonymous nature of crimes related to cyber attacks, every person, organization and nation are potential victims. It is unavoidable. What would we be able to do to secure ourselves? What can associations do lawfully and for all intents, in a viable and inexpensive way, to shield themselves from online attacks and seek retribution (BakerBotts, 2012)? Present-day discussions persist around the strategies and actions necessary to shape the future of cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity, the Government and the Private Sector
Due to the overwhelming ability of cybercrime to cause damage on an international level, adequate security will require national and international intervention. The Federal Bureau of Investigations is a prime example of the national effort made by the United States to create interagency collaboration. This governmental entity can connect with others on a global scale to conduct investigations beyond the American border. It will become necessary for all countries to uphold the future endeavors of intelligence agencies such as this to identify and thwart future attacks and threats against any country (Robinson, 2013). Simply responding to technology-based attacks is now considered an antiquated concept because indicting the guilty parties after the damage is no longer the objective. Prevention is the key to combatting cybercrime. Admittedly, staying even one step ahead of cybercriminals will take more than just the work of one governmental initiative. Other international organizations, for example, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union are also joining forces to effectively guard the nations. The thought that the best safeguard is to attack first is significant to the eventual fate of proactively battling cybercrimes (Robinson, 2013).
Nevertheless, there still exists no standard blueprint for policies against cybercrime because different national security endeavors are advancing independently. In the United States, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is making the Cybersecurity Framework. The framework consists of a voluntary list of recommendations for the security of critical infrastructure (Robinson, 2013). The European Commission is developing the Network and Information Security Platform. Furthermore, as countries create methodologies for securing cyberspace, there is a danger that unaligned strategies could make a divided or inadequately secured worldwide base. A few contrasts among national approaches are inescapable. Cybersecurity must differ from nation to nation because every country confronts its unique set of threats and needs that reflect those risks. In response to the need to develop a universal framework by which strategies can cooperate, Microsoft has created a whitepaper titled Developing a National Strategy for Cybersecurity (Jackson, 2013). This document focuses on creating a basis for best practices through the identification of fundamental security measures that can benefit all nations (Jackson, 2013).
Legal Limitations
The Department of Justice is responsible for the prosecution of cyber criminals on a national level. The FBI works with other federal law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations related to cybercrime. The mission of the FBI against cybercrime consists of four objectives. The first task is to stop perpetrators of the most damaging computer invasions and those who spread “malicious code” (Snow, 2013). Secondly, efforts will be made to identify and catch sexual predators who utilize the Internet to encounter and exploit children and to create, save, or share illicit pictures and videos of children. The third objective is to neutralize operations that threaten national intellectual property, which could jeopardize our national security and offer other nations a competitive advantage against us. Lastly, the FBI seeks to destroy national and transnational organized crime that uses the Internet to commit fraud. To this end, they have set up “cyber squads” in each of 56 field offices across the nation, with more than 1,000 trained specialists, experts, and digital forensic analysts. Still, this is not a job for a singular department.
Many of the best instruments the FBI possesses for addressing any crime issue are its long-standing associations with law enforcement agencies from the international all the way down to the local level. This collaboration also includes the private sector and educational institutions. At the government level, and by presidential command, the FBI drives the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) as a multi-office national point of convergence for planning, incorporating and sharing applicable data identified with cybercrime investigations to identify and locate the offender. The task force also looks for intent, motive, capacity, collaborators, financial supports, and the techniques used by both groups and people who commit cybercrime. By doing this, allies of the NCIJTF support the full scope of choices provided by U.S. government over all components of national power.
One recent case of coordination indicates how successful we are when functioning inside of these firmly established associations. During the past year, the Romanian legal system led one of the country's biggest police activities ever—an investigation into an organized crime group engaging in Internet fraud. The examination sent more than 700 law enforcement officers who performed searches through 103 areas, which prompted the capture of 34 individuals. American victims accounted for more than 600 of those who suffered from this particular crime ring. A large part of the success in dismantling this group of cybercriminals depended on the strong collaboration between Romanian law enforcement and the U. S. government, state and local partners. The far-reaching coordination of FBI's legal representative in Bucharest allowed the Romanians to access more than 600 complaints collected by the Internet Crime Complaint Center from entries to the www.IC3.gov reporting portal. Likewise, more than 45 FBI headquarters assisted with interviewing victims to obtain statements and police reports to transcribe them to Romanian complaint forms. This investigation was also due to the work of the legal representative (Snow, 2013).
Another viable collaboration in the war against cybercrimes suggests collective endeavors between IT security companies such as security merchants and law enforcement. Security analysts can effectively share vital insight to security threats or data required by police to direct their investigations. One of the potential approaches to identify and prevent attacks in a timely manner is with a custom defense plan that can caution IT staff of anything harmful event in the system. Analysts have been working together with law enforcement agencies, guiding their investigations, keeping in mind the end goal to obstruct cybercriminal operations and thereby, prohibit losses against clients and corporations.
The Prevention of Cybercrime
The most significant effort in the fight against cybercrime is prevention. Cybercrime is not like any other crime. By the time law enforcement officials have identified the crime and the offender, it is often too late. Too many people have already been impacted by the commission of the crime, or the perpetrator has moved on to another venture. To the advantage of law enforcement, crime follows specific trends and tends to deviate very little from the patterns, even in the cyber world. To this effect, investigators can formulate strategies to analyze and prevent cyber threats (Preventing and recovering from cybercrimes, 2014).
The public must be made aware of the risks associated with the use of cyberspace to make prevention methods effective. Each person who possesses and uses a device has to know the possible threats and should be educated about best practices against being victimized. Moreover, jurisdictions must be willing to share vital information that could lead to the capture of cybercriminals or groups before others are victimized.
Because most business threats are internal, education and training are important factors when discussing workplace security. It is crucial for staff beyond the scope of the IT team to understand their role in implementing the organization’s security policy. Not only should employees know what to do in case of a breach, but employee involvement requires a clear understanding of what qualifies as a breach of security and what violates ethical practice in the use of business-owned devices. Prevention is enforced by predicting the risk to all possible resources and processes from company phones to computer emails. All aspects of internal and external communication components must be assessed on a periodic and ongoing basis. Ideally, collaboration between law enforcement, federal agencies and the private sector through shared information can go a long way in preventing attacks on any one individual or group.
The Internet not only permits easier access to people and information for our luxury, but it also allows others direct access to our lives and businesses for their own purposes. Given that fact, cybercriminals will continue to find new ways to infiltrate confidential accounts and information in hopes of carrying out their personal agendas. Paul Nicholas, the Senior Director of Microsoft Global Security Strategy and Diplomacy hypothesizes that the risks are not just from commonly recognized sources, such as malware, viruses, and other cyber attacks, but from unsupported policies as well. The nation's response to international cooperation to resolve cyber conflict will shape the future of cyberspace for all nations (Trustworthy Computing, 2014). Cybersecurity is an essential aspect of protecting society from the ever-developing threat of technology. As modern technology increase so does the criminal entity that makes up cybercrimes that reach beyond the boundaries of any nation. Cyber attacks such as security intrusions, identity theft, fraudulent social media, and phishing are weakening critical infrastructure. Therefore, law enforcement and intelligence agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security must work together to combat and conquer cyber attacks, share the most useful tools and practices, and develop policies that will reach across nations to prosecute cybercriminals.

References
Botts, B. (2012). The future of cybersecurity: threats and opportunities. Retrieved from Cybersecurity Brochure: http://files.bakerbotts.com/file_upload/documents/CyberSecurityBrochure.pdf
CloudTweaks. (2013). The Future of cybersecurity. Retrieved from CloudTweaks: http://cloudtweaks.com/2015/06/the-future-of-cybersecurity/
Jackson, W. (2013). Cybereye. Retrieved from GCN: https://gcn.com/blogs/cybereye/2013/10/global-cybersecurity.aspx
Preventing and recovering from cybercrimes. (2014, November). Retrieved from The State of Security: http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/incident-detection/preventing-and-recovering-from-cybercrime/
Robinson, N. (2013). Cybersecurity Strategies Raise Hopes of International Cooperation. Retrieved from Tangled Web : http://www.rand.org/pubs/periodicals/rand-review/issues/2013/summer/cybersecurity-strategies-raise-hopes-of-international-cooperation.html
Trustworthy Computing. (2014). Cybersecurity. Cyberspace 2025: Today's Decisions, Tomorrow's Terrian. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/security/cybersecurity/cyberspace2025.