Harry Raduege

Cybersecurity and privacy may not be at odds with each other, according to experts from the U.S., China, Russia and India speaking at an EastWest Institute press conference in Dallas. The speakers are attending the first Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit, an international gathering of leaders from businesses, governments, academia and civil society aiming to forge international consensus to address the vulnerabilities of cyberspace.

Speakers identified the lack of attribution as a key weakness in cybersecurity, calling for a global electronic architecture that allows cyber attacks to be traced back to their sources. Response to hostile acts is impossible without such clarity, they said. "You need to be able to define who you're declaring a war on," said retired Lieutenant General Harry Raduege, Chairman of the Deloitte Center for Cyber Innovation.

But efforts towards clearer attribution must be approached with caution. "How much privacy are you ready to delegate to the government?" asked Andrei Korotkov of the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Affairs.

Some on the panel suggested that a two-tiered structure could balance the need for security and the freedom necessary for innovation: a lower tier where anyone can interact anonymously and another that requires stricter authentication. Kamlesh Bajaj, Chief Executive Officer of the Data Security Council of India, suggested such a structure would be similar to most online business transactions that require attribution. "These are secure transactions with a loss of anonymity," he said.

"If you want to work in the 'Wild West,' you can be anonymous," said Raduege. "But if you want to interact and conduct business, you need authentication."

"When you're speaking on the Internet, you must abide by laws," said Liu Zhengrong, Director of China's Internet Information Service Commission.

Above all, experts stressed the need for greater international cooperation and sharing of best practices. "This requires concerted action from all parties," Bajaj continued. "Anonymity will be there."

"We need to learn from others," added Liu.

International cooperation will be difficult, but it is necessary, according to experts. "Even a bad compromise is better than a good war," said Korotkov.

The IEEE and the IEEE Communications Society are Technical Cosponsors for the EastWest Institute's Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit. Financial sponsors include AT&T, Dell, Deloitte, the Financial Times, Huawei, the Knightsbridge Group and the Perot Group. To find out more about the summit, please visit http://www.ewi.info/dallas