Industry Report, Rosenstein Urge Collaboration in Botnet Fight

Securing against botnets requires collective action from government, internet and communications stakeholders, industry officials said Thursday, releasing a report. The Council to Secure the Digital Economy cybersecurity coalition between tech and communications groups warns against “prescriptive, compliance-focused regulatory requirements.” Government’s role isn't regulation that stymies response to threats, Information Technology Industry Council CEO Dean Garfield said during a panel. The goal should be to cut back 90-95 percent of threats because no amount of collaboration will be able to eradicate all threats, CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said. There’s no higher cause than addressing threats to the digital economy, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter argued, saying the cyber group plans to release an annual report: “This isn’t one and done.” Threats are increasing as the value of the tech sector grows, Garfield said. Shapiro called it a multi-factorial problem with multi-factorial solutions. Botnets can turn “everyday products into an army of devices capable of transmitting torrents of Internet traffic capable of knocking targeted networks offline,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said during a separate appearance Thursday. He encouraged the private sector to continue searching for “constructive solutions." The Commerce and Homeland Security departments released a road map highlighting focus areas for government and the private sector: the IoT, enterprise, internet infrastructure, technology development and awareness/education.