House Oversight Urges 'Whole-of-Government' Approach to Internet Infrastructure Security, Before Hearing
A Tuesday House Oversight National Security Subcommittee-House Armed Services Intelligence Subcommittee hearing on internet infrastructure security aims to “ensure that departments and agencies have harmonized and deconflicted” programs and policies, the House Oversight Committee said Monday in a memo. Acting…
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NTIA Administrator Diane Rinaldo, Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Assistant Director-Cybersecurity Jeanette Manfra and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense-Cyber Policy Ed Wilson will testify at the hearing, set for 2 p.m. in 2118 Rayburn (see 1909040075). Their written testimony wasn’t available Monday. House Armed Services and House Oversight also want the hearing to “encourage a whole-of-government approach to securing internet architecture” instead of “the current practice of dividing responsibilities among departments and creating stovepipes and seams in jurisdictions.” No “single government agency or entity is responsible for maintaining the security and reliability of the internet,” with the role currently being divided among three departments -- Commerce, Defense and Homeland Security -- and at least five other agencies, including the FCC, the memo said. “The complexity of overlapping mandates and jurisdictions has led departments and agencies to focus narrowly on discrete components or pieces of securing internet architecture.” That “overlooks the nature of the internet as a single ecosystem or system of systems, which given its’ [sic] importance to the nation, requires dedicated attention,” the memo said. House Oversight said a range of “recent incidents ... demonstrate the potential threats and vulnerabilities to U.S. internet architecture,” including a January DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency emergency directive that “warned federal agencies about a global [domain name system] hijacking campaign that included attackers redirecting and intercepting web and mail traffic. According to CISA, the campaign affected domains owned by multiple Executive Branch agencies.” U.S. military officials note "increased Russian submarine activity around undersea data cables in the Atlantic Ocean,” House Oversight said.