Cybersecurity Laws, Regulations and Legal Concepts (Research Paper Sample)

Cybersecurity Laws, Regulations and Legal Concepts
Name
Institution

Table of Contents
 TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704087" Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc420704087 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704088" Role of Government in Improving Cybersecurity  PAGEREF _Toc420704088 \h
3
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704089" Arguments for and Against Government Interventions  PAGEREF _Toc420704089 \h
4
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704090" Government Intervention Methods  PAGEREF _Toc420704090 \h
5
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704091" Impact of Regulations of Cyber and Private Sector Responsibility  PAGEREF _Toc420704091 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704092" Impacts of Government’s Regulations on National Security  PAGEREF _Toc420704092 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704093" Responsibility of Private Sector to Protect National Security  PAGEREF _Toc420704093 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704094" Conclusion  PAGEREF _Toc420704094 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc420704095" References  PAGEREF _Toc420704095 \h
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Introduction
Cybersecurity and attack have become an increasingly constraint of running business. In 2013, a good number of social media sites and some news media outlets were subject to cyber-attacks. They include Facebook, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Twitter, reported cases of targeted cyber-attacks that exposes the privacy of their customers. The majority of criminal groups have realized that there is a lot of money in the cyber hacking profession. Cybercrime has now become a multimillion-dollar business serving those who are willing to buy and sell stolen personal data. The impact cybercrime has on various companies is staggering: In the year 2012, cybercrimes cost United State industries an average of $8.9 million (Flaherty 2013).
This article will critically analyze laws and regulations of cybersecurity that have some positive impact on the country’s security. It will further focus on government interventions in combating cybercrimes and discuss the compelling social-political reasons, arguments against or for the government interventions or motivations into private sector cyber security. The paper will also discuss the impact of government regulations on national security depending on how to comply with the regulations.
Role of Government in Improving Cybersecurity
In many countries, the cyber threat has become one of the most dangerous national security and economic challenge. For example, in United States, President Obama made a enforced a law that required the Congress to pass comprehensive cyber-security legislation. However, a bill to pass the legislation was passed through Congress in the year 2012 but it was opposed. The majority of those who rejected the bill suggested that the proposed regulations mostly relied to the private sector (Flaherty 2013).
This directly narrows down to a question of whether or not the responsibility of the government to inform the private sector on the method of setting up and improving their cyber security. According to Larry Clinton, as the president of Internal Security, he argued that an approach that is more incentive-based can lead to laws that are more efficient in the private industry. He emphasized that the workers of private industries are battling each day, and are also well familiar with them (Flaherty, 2013).
Jim Lewis had his argument. He asserted that there have to be standards for performance and the government does not have to care on how it is conducted given that it is instigated. He argued that the standards were not difficult to implement. Besides, there was an already existing frameworks of standards from which they can be derived (NPR, 2012).
From the analysis of the two arguments, it is clear that the country should implement standards whereby each person should agree with. They should offer favorable incentives so as to ensure the private industry complies ensuring improved cyber security.
Arguments for and Against Government Interventions
Congress has failed to endorse measures that will enact legislation that should protect individuals and have an impact on the private businesses. Some see the interventions of the government in such kind of events as counter-productive, and some argue that variations executed at the government level should be made so as to offer protection to our main infrastructures against attack. Several new laws have been formed in the last decade with the aim of defending against cyber-attacks. However, in most instances, these have been inadequate to tackle the real international threats that face both corporations and individuals NPR (2012).
Government Intervention Methods
The government of United States over the past few years has participated in the process of enacting regulations and laws concerning compliance laws. FISMA is a compressive law that was enacted and require each government agency to form a management system that is security based (Vacca, 2009). So as to adhere to this law, the agency is required to carry out an assessment of risk. Although FISMA was delegated to the federal government, it can also offer guidelines that are effective for the private industry when it comes to securing of information systems (Paller, 2008).
The United State Government contributed to the publication of NIST. NIST offers security controls list based on the various classification of security. These controls offer a framework for the agencies of government to follow so as to become compliant of FISMA, and also allow non-government organizations to use this so as to develop their own controls and programs of cyber security. FISMA does not dictate requirements for private sectors. There are other state laws that have been passed over the years that mandate organizations to release specific security breaches information, however, this differs from county to county (Paller, 2008).
The Act of Financial Services Modernization and the HIPAA are US laws enacted to address I.T security. These laws focus on the privacy of some personal information and also address data security (Bidgoli, 2006). Other laws that were enacted include computer fraud and abuse act, electronic communications privacy act, consumer protection laws, Sarbanes-Oxley Act and uniform computer information transactions act. These laws directly or indirectly determine the impact of I.T. security by enforcing obligations to maintain personal information privacy (Bidgoli, 2006).
Impact of Regulations of Cyber and Private Sector Responsibility
Impacts of Government’s Regulations on National Security
As times continue to change, there is growing need for more protection to be implemented in the cyber security space. The big question is now on “How much more participation should occur at the Federal Government level?” The majority who agreed with the approach, that is more incentivized and short of regulations, claim that the implementation costs for best controls to conform with regulations could be expensive Their move focuses on attaining standards of government and far from dealing with fear that is sophisticated and new. Jody Westby who is the CEO of Global Cyber Risk was also against the 2012 Cybersecurity Act which failed. He stated that it “it could actually put a federal entity inside most of the data centers of businesses and required reporting and assessments that would make Sarbanes-Oxley somehow inexpensive.” (Free Enterprise, 2012).
Impacts due to Failure to Comply, Meeting Only or Exceeding the Minimum Requirements
In the year 2012, Ulster Bank which is located in Northern Ireland experienced a massive breakdown of the computer when a software upgrade failed. Although there is lack of concrete evidence to make the conclusion that this was the caused by cyber-attack, it underscores our reliance on secure and reliable facilities within this sector. The breakdown resulted in disruption of the customers lives in Ireland and Britain but was worse for the Ulster Bank customers, who experienced difficulty i...