Cybersecurity: Government and Openness

Cybercrime is presently a billion dollar industry, reports Bloomberg Businessweek (in a July 2011 issue). Criminals are making huge amounts of money pilfering and reselling sensitive and commercially valuable information to unscrupulous businesses and criminal syndicates running other rackets.

Restricting our attention to commercially valuable information, which is mostly time sensitive (e.g.: transport network development plans), we note that unscrupulous business can purchase an information advantage by pilfering completed plans before they are made public or implemented. In some industries, this advantage can be worth hundreds of millions, with real estate being the exemplar of this class.

The pilfering of data is nothing more than a new frontier in illegally/unethically obtaining government secrets for private profit. Attempts to maintain secrecy result in incentives for businesses to act in an immoral/criminal manner. The driving imperative for businesses is survival through profitability. Conceding the ill-gotten information advantage to others leads to one losing the fight for competitive advantage and hence, survival.

While companies have no choice but to secure their cyber assets more comprehensively, governments can do that or be more open with information that they would release eventually anyway (within the year, for example). (At least, information whose early release would not cause social/economic/political problems.)

With more information being made available in a timely fashion, markets would be more efficient and social welfare would increase. Determined entities will get their hands on information, and in that event, only the unscrupulous will profit. Openess would give the honest a fair share of the economic pie. Not much else has to be said on that count.

--
In closing, let me offer up the following scenarios:

Scenario 1:

1. T - x: Study Begins


2. T: Announce Conclusion


3. T + y: Implementation

Scenario 2:

1. T - x: Study Begins


2. T - x: Announce study


3. T: Announce Conclusion


4. T + y: Implementation

Scenario 3:

1. T - x - y: Receive private lobby


2. T - x: Study Begins


3. T - x: Announce study


4. T: Announce Conclusion


5. T + z: Implementation

The announcement of each study serves to prime the public to the release of information, allowing time for the private examination of possible outcomes and comtemplation on how to best react to them.