Following Sandy, DHS seeks security 'Cyber Reserve'

The damage to the electrical grid from Superstorm Sandy is just a taste of what could happen from a major cyberattack, says Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano. And a DHS task force said that one way to minimize that kind of risk is to recruit a "Cyber Reserve" of computer security pros that could be deployed throughout the country to help the nation defend and recover from such an attack.

Could a "Cyber Reserve" mitigate the threat? DHS Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute believes that until DHS can improve its in-house capabilities, a reserve is the way to go. Jim Finkle reports at Reuters that the Deputy Secretary hopes to have a working model for a Cyber Reserve within a year, with the first members drawn from retired government employees now working for private companies, but also recruit from Department of Defense contractors, veterans' organizations and outside groups. The management of such a reserve of security pros could be tricky, however, since it would involve security clearances and allowing people access to confidential information and tools that could leak into the wild unless they were tightly controlled.