Government agencies are realizing they can’t go it alone when it comes to cyber security and protecting intellectual and technological assets from malicious activities. They had previously counted solely on government labs for technology innovation to counter the threats of today. We are certainly seeing this through the many government agencies that contact us with specific needs for network traffic capture. Yesterday’s Washington Post article, Partnering for Cyberspace Security, shows how one ranking official clearly sees the need for a stronger partnership between the government and the private sector. A couple highlights from the article:

“In two recent speeches… Donald Kerr, principal deputy director of national intelligence, has called for a radical new relationship between government and the private sector to counter what he called the “malicious activity in cyberspace [that] is a growing threat to everyone.”

“Major losses of information and value for our government programs typically aren’t from spies . . . In fact, one of the great concerns I have is that so much of the new capabilities that we’re all going to depend on aren’t any longer developed in government labs under government contract.”

“Calling for “a fundamental rethinking of our government’s traditional relationship with the private sector,” Kerr said that “a high percentage of our critical information infrastructure is privately owned, and both government and industry must recognize that an individual vulnerability is a common weakness.”

Kerr is right — individual vulnerabilities in protecting intellectual property from cyber threats present a common weakness for everyone. It will take the collective resources and expertise of government labs along with the world’s private technology innovators to develop products, process and methodologies that will help protect our most valuable technological assets. This should not be overlooked in the continuing effort toward greater national security.