미국의 사이버위기관련 법제의 현황과 전망

Abstract

The development of Information Technology (IT) has enabled significant parts of the Nation’s functions and services to be digitalized and processed through computerized information system. The World Wide Web interconnects these individual systems in one big cyberspace. The interconnected nature of the Internet has made it possible for hackers to access to restricted information of national security value. These cyber attacks have become so prevalent and systematic that they pose a great threat to the national security. In addition, the cyber attacks are becoming too swift for the victims to respond to them. In this paper, the US current situation and legislation for cyber risk management are presented and analyzed along with the future prospect. The US case has its own merits and demerits. By reviewing the US system, the Korean government and legislature may find some points to contemplate and reflect their findings in establishing their own. First, in the US, the jurisdictions and responsibilities to deal with cyber crises are distributed among several Federal departments and agencies. These departments and agencies collaborate through multilateral cooperation. Just as in the case of the US, any one government agency cannot respond to all cyber crimes or violations of law. It is essential for relevant Korean Ministries and agencies to work together to devise effective and comprehensive countermeasures for cyber crises by organizing their human and other resources. Secondly, while the collaboration works well in one way, there is a drawback in the US system. Because different Federal departments and agencies provide different programs to respond to cyber crises, they lack unified, comprehensive and systematic cyber risk management processes. Consequently, an issue of enacting a new law is being raised which will stipulate nationwide countermeasures for cyber crises and preventative measures such as funding research on cyber crises and cyber training. As the US case suggests, Korea requires new legislation too in order to equip the Nation with comprehensive and systematic national cyber risk management system.