It sure does, if one were to believe a report published by the Cyber Council of the United States' National security Alliance (INSA). The report, released yesterday in the US, claims the Federal government's outsourcing plans of its IT requirements has escalated cyber security risks in the United States.

It suggests that with federal authorities outsourcing a major chunk of their IT requirements to countries like India, hackers are having a far easier time gaining unauthorized access into the systems and supply chains of government departments.

The report titled "Cyber Intelligence: Setting the Landscape for an Emerging Discipline" says potential adversaries of the United States can easily intrude into the logistical chains of US government agencies. It further argues that the outsourcing only takes into account economic reasons and ignores real security risks for the country.

“The present situation is as dangerous as if the United States decided to outsource the design of bridges, electrical grids, and other physical infrastructure to the Soviet Union during the Cold War,” the study says, but fails to bring up specific examples of outsourcing.

The White Paper (available on this website), presents a comprehensive view of the rising level of risks to the IT infrastructure in the United States and seeks an organized effort to develop defense mechanisms while leveraging cyber intelligence on a national and global scale.

The report claims that cyber attacks can be waged with little help from education and money whereas those against whom such attacks are targeted tend to incur substantial costs to build up defenses. “While quantifiable assessments of the net impact of cyber attacks are difficult to discern, the cost is great enough to warrant the need for a cyber security apparatus supported by sophisticated cyber intelligence,” the report said.

It goes on to make four key recommendations that include defining and establishing effective cyber intelligence approaches, professions, skill sets, training, education and technologies and enabling cyber intelligence policies and pilot efforts across industry, academia and government.

The report also seeks formation of public-private cyber outreach forums and building of a meaningful partnership among all relevant agencies and the private sector to ensure the seamless sharing of information.