The United States is building an elite cyber defence team to guard the nation's public and private computer systems, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says.
"We need the best brains we can bring to bear on meeting the challenge," Napolitano told computer security specialists.
"We are building one of the best teams anywhere, but our success depends in no small part on our ability to collaborate with the private sector."
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
She challenged those at the conference to join forces with the department and help teach people the importance of protecting themselves from online crooks and spies.
Napolitano launched a National Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign contest to find innovative ways to convince the public how vital it is to safeguard computers from online attacks.
"All Americans have an important role to play in securing our computer systems and cyber networks," Napolitano said.
Intrusion detection system
Proposals for promoting cybersecurity awareness can be submitted online at www.dhs.gov/cyberchallenge any time before April 30.
The department will back winning ideas, according to Napolitano.
She said the department is ahead of schedule deploying an Einstein computer intrusion detection system on federal networks, which should be in place at 21 government agencies by the end of this year.
"Even as we are working to deploy Einstein we take very seriously the protection of privacy and civil liberties," Napolitano said of the system that analyses internet traffic as it flows into or out of federal computer systems.
She added the department has made "significant progress" in hardening cyber defences of privately-owned portions of the US critical infrastructure.
"We need to do more and we need to do it faster," Napolitano said. "Cyber threats are also threats to our homeland security."
She called on computer security specialists to help the department "leapfrog" forward with technology for speedy automated defences that can operate across all types of systems.
