On anniversary of 9/11, cyberattacks pose national threat: Computerworld

On September 7th, 2011, Jaikumar Vijayan wrote for Computerworld on how the United States still faces a critical threat to its security from cyberattacks.  Mr. Vijayan referenced a new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Preparedness Group (NSPG) which assesses the progress that the public sector has made in implementing the security recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.  The report notes that catastrophic cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure targets are not a theoretical threat.  The NSPG goes on to say that "this is not science fiction.  It is possible to take down cyber systems and trigger cascading disruptions and damage. Defending the U.S. against such attacks must be an urgent priority."

The report also highlights concerns  about terrorists using cyberspace to attack the country without physically crossing its borders. "Successive [intelligence chiefs] have warned that the cyber threat to critical infrastructure systems — to electrical, financial, water, energy, food supply, military, and telecommunications networks — is grave."  Potentially, terrorists could hack into the U.S. electric grid and cause large sections of the country to go without power for weeks.

The committee's report reinforces the perception that critical infrastructure targets remain unprepared for dealing with cyberattacks.  The past few years have seen numerous attacks targeting government and military networks; most of the attacks are believed to be the work of highly organized state-sponsored groups.  However, some believe that those within government are still not taking the threat seriously enough.  Cofer Black, former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center during the Bush administration, recently warned about cyberthreats not being taken seriously enough.  Furthermore, Black said that military and government officials have shown a hesitancy to act until they see a validation of  cyber threats.  Black noted that it was this same sort of skepticism that government officials had showed toward the alarms sounded prior to the Sept. 11, 2001.

The original article can be found here.