This week, a third-party medical billing collections company, American Medical Collection Agency, announced that they had experienced a data breach, exposing the personal and financial information of nearly 20 million LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics customers. At the same time, the City of Baltimore and the Philadelphia city court online system are struggling to respond and recover from ransomware attacks.
Breaches and attacks can be devastating to an individual or an organization. Anyone with important data stored on their computer or network is at risk, including government or law enforcement agencies and healthcare systems or other critical infrastructure entities. Beyond financial loss, the impacts of these actions can threaten personal reputations, national security, and even the safety of children.
Our publications discuss urgent issues related to the resilience of the nation’s computing and communications systems, including the Internet, commercial systems, and other critical infrastructures. All are free to read online or download.
Data Breach Aftermath and Recovery for Individuals and Institutions: Proceedings of a Workshop
In January 2016, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted the Workshop on Data Breach Aftermath and Recovery for Individuals and Institutions. Participants examined existing technical and policy remediations, and they discussed possible new mechanisms for better …
Beyond Spectre: Confronting New Technical and Policy Challenges: Proceedings of a Workshop
In 2017, researchers discovered a vulnerability in microprocessors used in computers and devices all over the world. The vulnerability, named Spectre, combines side effects from caching and speculative execution, which are techniques that have been used for many years to increase the speed at …
Recoverability as a First-Class Security Objective: Proceedings of a Workshop
The Forum on Cyber Resilience of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted the Workshop on Recoverability as a First-Class Security Objective on February 8, 2018, in Washington, D.C. The workshop featured presentations from several experts in industry, research, and …
Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation’s Electricity System
Americans’ safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex “cyber-physical” system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, …
Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy
During the 2016 presidential election, America’s election infrastructure was targeted by actors sponsored by the Russian government. Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy examines the challenges arising out of the 2016 federal election, assesses current technology and standards for …
Software Update as a Mechanism for Resilience and Security: Proceedings of a Workshop
Software update is an important mechanism by which security changes and improvements are made in software, and this seemingly simple concept encompasses a wide variety of practices, mechanisms, policies, and technologies. To explore the landscape further, the Forum on Cyber Resilience hosted a …
Foundational Cybersecurity Research: Improving Science, Engineering, and Institutions
Attaining meaningful cybersecurity presents a broad societal challenge. Its complexity and the range of systems and sectors in which it is needed mean that successful approaches are necessarily multifaceted. Moreover, cybersecurity is a dynamic process involving human attackers who continue to …
At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy: Some Basic Concepts and Issues
We depend on information and information technology (IT) to make many of our day-to-day tasks easier and more convenient. Computers play key roles in transportation, health care, banking, and energy. Businesses use IT for payroll and accounting, inventory and sales, and research and development. …
Professionalizing the Nation’s Cybersecurity Workforce?: Criteria for Decision-Making
Professionalizing the Nation’s Cybersecurity Workforce? Criteria for Decision-Making considers approaches to increasing the professionalization of the nation’s cybersecurity workforce. This report examines workforce requirements for cybersecurity and the segments and job functions in …