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"United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano took a jab at Congress for failing to act on cybersecurity during a panel on the subject Monday at the 2012 Social Good Summit. \nCongress has so far failed to pass cybersecurity legislation this year. Both chambers have their own versions of cyber bills, but they have yet to pass in the opposite chamber due to a partisan divide on the appropriate role of the government in cybersecurity.\n\"This has been a very interesting and troubling discussion in Congress,\" she said. \"It gets to the question which is 'how does the government, which has overall security responsibly, interact with the private sector when an attack on private sector could have multiple rippling effects throughout the country?' When you get into this debate, it's a Washington, D.C. thing about government regulating the private sector.\"\nA bill supported by many Senate Democrats first called for government-set cybersecurity standards for private businesses deemed crucial to national security, such as power grids. Republicans balked at the idea, deeming it excessive government regulation of private business. The Senate bill was later rewritten to offer a compromise between the two camps, but that version also stalled. \nMeanwhile, House Republicans passed their own cybersecurity bill, designed to encourage information-sharing between private businesses, under a veto threat from the White House. That bill hasn't been passed by the Senate.\nNapolitano's position in this debate is somewhere in the middle: She doesn't see absolute government regulation as the right answer for cybersecurity, but rather wants to build a cooperative cybersecurity relationship between businesses and the government with some government oversight of crucial industries.\n\"I think regulation in the traditional sense isn't the right relationship,\" she said. \"It has to be one of mutually beneficial partnership and responsibility... if you're doing the balance statement for a private company, security for others isn't something you can reflect on your own balance sheet, but it is a responsibility. That's what government has: responsibility is shared equally.\" \nShe added that Barack Obama is weighing an executive order on cybersecurity \u2014 a possible move that privacy experts are watching closely, but a step Napolitano supports.\n\"Congress wasn't able to act this year, it got stuck in the regulatory versus non-regulatory dichotomy,\" said Napolitano. \"The president is considering moving forward with an executive order that would help with this.\"\nWhen asked if private businesses would need to experience a cataclysmic cyberattack in order for them and politicians to make progress on cybersecurity, Napolitano said that it would spur progress, but added that's not her preferable path.\n\"It's only going to take one takedown for need for that partnership to become apparent,\" she said. \"An example from the non-cyber world: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is within the Department of Homeland Security. It became clear after Katrina and the response, or or lack thereof, that it was broken. What's happened is that we've used that crisis to fix FEMA. FEMA is now very agile, astute and target-oriented. That crisis crystallized action.\"\n\"I hope there's an alternative,\" she added. \"The problem with [cybersecurity] is that if you have a crisis, first of all it could be multiple crises happening simultaneously, second is that it could have damaging rippling effects that puts life and limb at risk, third is that we don't have all the protocols in place to deal with a truly massive problem.\"\nAbout Ericsson\nRead more of Mashable's coverage of the 2012 Social Good Summit:\n\nDay One:\n\nHillary Clinton Opens the Social Good Summit [VIDEO]\nHow the U.S. Chief Technology Officer Is Making Data Awesome\nCan Mobile Phones Help Fight Pediatric AIDS?\nHow Is Social Media Changing Diplomacy?\nPeter Gabriel Makes Case For Internet Freedom\nITU Secretary-General: OK to Make Profit When Helping Developing Nations\n8-Year-Old YouTube Sensation Performs at Social Good Summit\nSocial Good Summit Day 1: Highlights and Pics\n\nDay Two:\n\nShoutAbout Aims to Inspire Social Action Based on News Stories\nTim Pool, Guerrilla Journalist of the Digital Age [VIDEO]\nU.S. Ambassador Susan Rice: Twitter Crucial to Her Mission\nHow Social Media Is Empowering Women in Haiti\nHow to Use Mobile Devices to Solve Global Problems\nHow Forest Whitaker Is Using Technology to Spread Peace\nSocial Good Summit Day 2: Highlights and Pics\n\nDay Three:\n\nNapolitano: Congress \u2018Got Stuck\u2019 on Cybersecurity\nU.N. Foundation Challenges the World to Take Action\nNick Kristof Takes Social Good Gaming to the Next Level\nWhy Tech and New Media Can Help End Modern Slavery\nUNICEF Launches Online Campaign to Reduce Child Mortality Rates\nWhat It Means to Be an Advocate in the Digital Age\nWhat Non-Profits Can Learn From Cat Videos\nWikipedia Founder: Online Connections Foster Real Change\nDeepak Chopra: Social Media is the Next Phase of Humanity [VIDEO]\nHow Social Good Summit Sparked the Largest Conversation on Earth\nSocial Good Summit Day 3: Highlights and Pics\n10 Inspiring Quotes From Mashable\u2019s Social Good Summit\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/napolitano-cybersecurity/>