U.S. Cyber Command hosts legal conference

By 1st Lt. Logan A. ClarkSeptember 28, 2012

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Mark Young, U.S. Cyber Command executive director of plans and policy, conducts an ethical hacking demonstration for participants of the second annual USCYBERCOM Interagency Legal Conference on Sept. 18. The conference, held at the McGill Training Ce... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (Sept. 27, 2012) -- Complex technological issues require changes in policy and wide-ranging cooperation, according to the chief of staff of U.S. Cyber Command.

Rear Adm. Margaret Klein also said the issue needs to be addressed as the world becomes connected through the internet; with new technology, she said, come new legal challenges and questions.

Her comments keynoted the command's staff judge advocate and legal team USCYBERCOM Interagency Legal Conference on Sept. 18 at the McGill Training Center to discuss legal issues surrounding cyber operations.

The meeting was the second annual event hosted by USCYBERCOM and included speakers from the command, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, as well as speakers and attendees from corporations and academia.

"These policy challenges arise as technology is invented and we come up with ways of implementing that technology," Klein said at the conference. "Attorneys and scholars both face a variety of complex issues surrounding the use of this new technology."

Klein also expressed the necessity of a combined effort in finding solutions to these dilemmas, especially as the U.S. becomes more reliant on technology for national defense and economic strength.

"One of the reasons I'm happy to see all of you from different organizations come together is the fact that cyberspace requires interagency as well as interservice and international cooperation," she said, highlighting the joint endeavor of USCYBERCOM and other organizations.

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, so the conference was a timely event for professionals to address concerns and raise questions to the speakers, as well as an ethical hacking demonstration.

As the cyber domain grows both in the government and civilian industry, information protection is becoming more essential to the government and private citizens alike.

To show how easy it is to acquire some basic information and limited control of someone's computer, Mark Young, USCYBERCOM executive director of plans and policy, conducted a condensed ethical hacking demonstration as part of the conference.

He emphasized the importance of small steps someone can take to help safeguard their information, including taking advantage of security settings on social networking sites or calling an internet service provider to help upgrade their internet security to a less-easily cracked code.

Col. Gary Brown, the USCYBERCOM SJA knows the value of these types of conferences.

He said, "to get cyber security right, we need to coordinate the efforts of the military, the intelligence community, government civilian agencies and the private sector. Conferences like this can really facilitate the kind of cooperation we'll need going forward to secure the nation's infrastructure and national security systems."

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