State of Michigan CIO David Behen

Michigan's new Cyber Civilian Corps, a rapid response team of volunteers, will assist the state and industries during a major cybersecurity incident.

Gov. Rick Snyder, who announced the creation of the Corps, describes the team as a "Cyber National Guard." State Chief Information Officer David Behen, in an interview with Information Security Media Group (transcript below), says the corps, to be deployed in late spring, will include volunteers from government, education and business.

Behen says the Cyber Civilian Corps will be used to respond to cyber-attacks against the private and public sector in Michigan. He provides the following example:

If a county finds itself under a cyber-attack, the county CIO would reach out to the Michigan Cyber-Command Center or Behen, who would determine the severity and scope of the attack.

"If we needed the Cyber Civilian Corps, we would call them up," Behen says. "We would work with the [impacted organization] and bring our corps in to assist them in responding to the cyber-attack."

In the interview, Behen explains how:

The Civilian Cyber Corps will function; Volunteers of information security specialists will be trained; and The initiative will be funded.

As the state's CIO, Behen is a member of the governor's cabinet. He previously served as CIO and deputy administrator of Washtenaw County, the home of Ann Arbor. Behen co-founded software maker InfoReady and served as a vice president and CIO of its parent corporation, GDI InfoTech.

Michigan's Cyberthreat Landscape

ERIC CHABROW: Before we get to the details of the Cyber Civilian Corps, please take a few moments to describe the cyberthreat environment in Michigan that led to the creation of the Corps.

DAVID BEHEN: Michigan is just like any other state. We're being bombarded every day with cyber-attacks. For example, in the state of Michigan, [there are] over half a billion attacks a day [against] the state network. It's a very serious issue, and I'm just talking about the state network. Then, if you think about all the businesses in the state of Michigan and all the educational institutions and how their networks are being attacked as well, cybersecurity is an issue that we all need to work together on. Gov. Rick Snyder is taking a leadership role not only in the state of Michigan but also nationally around cybersecurity. It only made sense that we look at our partners in the public sector, private sector and education institutions to come together and work on this very important topic.

Value of Information Sharing

CHABROW: Why is it important to bring these different parties together?

BEHEN: There are a couple of reasons. One is the information sharing piece. How can we work together? How can we share information so that we all become better educated around these attacks? As you know, if we all have more knowledge and are better educated around these attacks, we'll be able to hopefully reduce them. If something does happen, then maybe, at the very least, we'll be able to respond together jointly to lessen the impact on our organization.

Secondly is that we all can learn from each other. You have the health industry, finance industry, education and small business. All of us are in this thing together. The ability to have cross-sector collaboration, cooperation and communication allows us to learn from each other and better prepare ourselves for a cyber-attack that most likely will come in the future.

Cyber Civilian Corps

CHABROW: Where did the idea of this Cyber Civilian Corps come from?

BEHEN: It really came from conversations with Gov. Rick Snyder. We have so many great assets in the state of Michigan, and I'm talking about human assets. We have really smart people in the state of Michigan. This is not something that the state government controls, the private sector controls or critical infrastructure [controls]. This is something that we all have to work together on. We started talking and he said, "Let's look at bringing together a group of volunteers, sort of like the National Guard. [They] brought [them] together and trained. Then, when something happens, they're deployed. Because they've done all the training together and they have the education of working together, they really are effective."

CHABROW: How does the Cyber Civilian Corps work?