Perfect Citizen is an NSA program to monitor the cyber-security of all critical infrastructures. Raytheon is believed to have been contracted to create the hardware and software which will be installed in key networks across the nation. Perfect Citizen will gather data about those networks to detect their weaknesses and identify attacks against them. Referred to as Big Brother by its opponents, Perfect Citizen may constitute an invasion of privacy by gathering too much information, but it is at greater risk of gathering too little.
With its widespread data gathering capabilities, Perfect Citizen could be a privacy and security risk. Perfect Citizens’s opponents argue that the NSA would have at its fingertips information which would allow it to track your movements, by collecting data from companies running the water supply and electrical grid. Perfect Citizen would also pose a security risk to companies by gathering and storing data about their vulnerabilities which could be intercepted and exploited by attackers. Although the outcry against Perfect Citizen is understandable, it risks causing Perfect Citizen to gather so little data that the program becomes useless.
If the Perfect Citizen is to have any teeth, it must gather enough information to convict an attacker. Otherwise, its bark will be worse than its bite. There is a long way between simply sounding the alarm and gathering information usable in court. By keeping log files, even if the computers it is defending do not, Perfect Citizen’s software would gather solid evidence against cyber-criminals and act as a deterrent.
Perfect Citizen is growing up to be a watchman, but what we need is a policeman. Perfect Citizen must gather enough evidence to convict an attacker if it is to significantly improve our nation’s security. The protest against the Perfect Citizen program may cause our administration to put privacy before security, endangering our nation.
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