OPM Breach: US Gov policy one of 'benign neglect'

As news breaks that a second breach at the federal Office of Personnel Management may have seen another set of data, potentially more valuable than that accessed during the first, Philip Lieberman, President of privileged identity management specialists Lieberman Software, has been talking about what went wrong. Here's what he had to say on the matter: The apparent US Government policy with regard to the protection of commercial enterprises attacked by nation states and others has been benign neglect (perhaps a shoulder to cry on). Current law and government policy forbid commercial enterprises to take any action against the attacker and handle the matter via the rule of law and in the appropriate jurisdiction. Since there has been little to no recourse possible, commercial enterprises have been attacked and damaged with little government assistance. We are told to build better walls and operate in a defensive mode even though both our government and governments of others have cyber weapons that commercial enterprises with no effective defence. Using technologies such as air gaps, segmented networks, encryption, privileged identity management, can reduce the damage and scope of damage caused by these weapons. So there is no real defence, only the concept of acceptable loss.