The government is admitting it can't do it on its own, so it is appealing to the private sector to help in defending against cyber attacks.

In a keynote speech to the RSA Conference, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff presented a grim picture of what would happen if the country's core institutions were attacked. He even went so far as to say the devastation could be on par with the 9/11 attacks, reports InternetNews.

Back in January, the government opened the National Cyber Security Center and appointed Rod Beckstrom, founder of Twiki.net, to head it up. The goal of the center is to organize information-sharing among federal networks, but it has not been as effective as the government would like.

So Chertoff is asking companies to send their "best and brightest" to join the effort to secure federal systems. He admits the government cannot compete with the private sector in terms of money. Instead, he is hoping the desire to serve will out weigh the desire for profit, according to this Digital Trends piece.

Chertoff declined to provide details, but did say the government was shifting from a backward-looking architecture to an early warning system. This Dark Reading article says reducing the number of access points will be critical.

The Department of Homeland Security seems very serious about protecting the Internet, but ZDNet blogger Richard Koman remains cynical. The "real money" DHS is putting behind this project pales in comparison to what the government spends per month on the war in Iraq.