Scientists view cybersecurity as an intimidating conundrum

The Internet's extensive cybersecurity vulnerabilities are so hard to fix that information technology researchers sometimes avoid studying the topic like they were steering clear of the seamy underbelly of a great metropolitan city, top scientists said.

Jeannette M. Wing, who served as assistant director of the computer and information science and engineering directorate at the National Science Foundation from 2007 until recently, was called in by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to discuss specific areas in the networking and information technology sector that the federal government should be investing research and development funds in. "I think cybersecurity . . . is the most difficult challenge. And it's not just a societal and political challenge. It's a technical challenge," said Wing, who this summer returned to her post as head of the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University. "Leadership needs to come from the top since no one sector of government, industry and academia can address this challenge alone." PCAST, which is composed of the nation's leading scientists and engineers, makes recommendations to the president on policies ranging from flu vaccine production to nanotechnology. The panel is working on a networking and IT research and development study.