A National Academy of Engineering panel of big thinkers, including Google co-founder Larry Page, has identified 14 top technological challenges for this century and securing cyberspace is among them.

"[S]ince we live in an increasingly networked virtual world, cybersecurity is a fundamental engineering challenge," says Rob Socolow, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University and a panel member.

The panel, inspired at least in part by Hollywood, explained its decision to put securing cyberspace on the list like this:

"Electronic computing and communication pose some of the most complex challenges engineering has ever faced. They range from protecting the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information and deterring identity theft to preventing the scenario recently dramatized in the Bruce Willis movie "Live Free or Die Hard," in which hackers take down the transportation system, then communications, and finally the power grid. … In fact, serious breaches of cybersecurity in financial and military computer systems have already occurred. Identity theft is a burgeoning problem. Viruses and other cyberattacks plague computers small and large and disrupt commerce and communication on the Internet. Yet research and development for security systems has not progressed much beyond a strategy akin to plugging the hole in the dike — cobbling together software patches when vulnerabilities are discovered."

Other great technological challenges identified include advancing healthcare informatics and virtual reality, engineering better medicine and preventing nuclear terror.

The significance of assembling and promoting the list, Socolow says, is making clear to those who fund engineering research that such investments can pay off big time. The National Science Foundation concurs and cited cybersecurity as an area it wants the United States to put more funds towards.

The National Academy of Engineering list could inspire young people to seek engineering as a career path, knowing that it is an exciting field, Socolow says.

In addition to Page and Socolow, other panelists included Craig Venter and Ray Kurzweil. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry chaired the panel.

For more on network research, visit our Alpha Doggs blog.