The National Academies Forum on Cyber Resilience held its inaugural meeting this week in Washington, DC. The Forum is focused on advancing the national dialogue about our cyber systems and their resilience and plans to address issues including cybersecurity and trustworthiness; stakeholder values; and preparation, response, and recovery in the face of malicious attacks, technological disruptions and natural disasters. It is chaired by Fred B. Schneider, directed by Lynette I. Millett, and made up of a multidisciplinary group of experts, with perspectives spanning research, practice, technology, and policy.

The Forum will convene three times annually to plan and execute workshops and supplementary activities. At the public session this week, forum member Richard Danzig discussed his recent paper, Surviving on a Diet of Poisoned Fruit: Reducing the National Security Risks of America’s Cyber Dependencies.

Danzig talked about how our society is growing dependent on computing systems, but that comes with risk since these systems are inherently insecure.  So, it is time to rethink that dependence and, for certain critical applications, deploy designs that deliver service even if the computing systems are compromised.

For more information about the Forum on Cyber Resilience, please see their website.