ISR News: Feds Warn of Security Meltdown

February 2, 2009 by ADMIN

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Excerpts From DarkGovernment.com

Computer attacks pose the biggest risk “from a national security perspective, other than a weapon of mass destruction or a bomb in one of our major cities,” said Shawn Henry, assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division told the International Conference on Cyber Security in New York . According to multiple reports Henry went on to say terrorist groups aim for an online 9/11, “inflicting the same kind of damage on our country, on all our countries, on all our networks, as they did in 2001 by flying planes into buildings.”

“The cyber infrastructure of the U.S. government is closely linked to the national cyber infrastructure that we all know and use. And that infrastructure is largely made up of privately owned networks. Moreover, our economic security is quickly becoming linked to our ability to protect information in cyberspace. Even if the government wanted to devise cyber security policies without private input, these policies would have limited reach, and would not reach many of the most critical potential vulnerabilities in the United States, said Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip at the International Conference on Cyber Security. “For instance, electrical grids depend on cyber components to function, and the banking system and Wall Street rely on computers and Internet-based transactions. The crown jewels of our technology and intellectual property rights - held in corporations and research universities - are similarly affected by such vulnerabilities. These and many more like examples make clear that we cannot have a rational national cyber security policy without thinking long and hard about how to protect private networks.”

“I can’t tell you how strongly I believe, how much I’ve been convinced by my colleagues in the FBI, and the rest of the Executive Branch, that we must secure our cyber infrastructure in a manner that addresses threats from foreign armies, adversary intelligence services, criminals, and terrorists,” Filip said. “It’s hard to exaggerate how important this is or how hard it is to accomplish fully.”

Comments From Laura Wilson, Information-Security-Resources.com Corporate Liability Editor:

These grim terms are 100% correct, and the gravity of this threat cannot be overstated. Having seen companies blow right on by all safety controls that protect consumers and homeland security, and give away shareholder assets by letting valuable intellectual property walk out the door, I am a long-time advocate and trainer on this issue.

We are finally starting to get appropriate attention to this vast and unacknowledged threat to our money, our safety, and our country.

The many stakeholders involved in protecting sensitive information also need a strong reminder that this is a fixable problem. We can’t make it perfect, but we can make information protection much better than it is now.

Unfortunately, many organizations and individuals learn this lesson only after there’s been an infosec crash. Let’s compel them to find and fix the problems before there’s a breach.

Laura is a business consultant and an advocate for information security, consumer protection, long-term shareholder value, and better management decisions. Her specialty is finding and fixing risks and threats to sensitive data. Her experience includes international banking, credit card, and mortgage companies, venture capital portfolio companies, and software and technology providers. She practiced law in Silicon Valley during the tech boom and meltdown, handling corporate governance and information protection.

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