Cyber Attacks Becoming Top Terror Threat, FBI Says

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/232600046

By J. Nicholas Hoover
InformationWeek
February 01, 2012

Cyber attacks against government agencies and businesses in the United 
States continue to rise, and cyber threats will one day surpass the 
danger of terrorism to the United States, intelligence community 
officials said in an open hearing of the Senate select intelligence 
community Tuesday.

"Stopping terrorists is the number one priority," said FBI director 
Robert Mueller. "But down the road, the cyber threat will be the number 
one threat to the country. I do not think today it is necessarily [the] 
number one threat, but it will be tomorrow."

The rare open hearing of the Senate's intelligence committee, an annual 
one that surveys the threats to the United States from around the globe, 
included testimony by Mueller, director of national intelligence James 
Clapper, and CIA director David Petraeus. Tuesday's hearing looked at 
the broad spectrum of threats to the nation, but numerous administration 
officials will brief Congress in a classified hearing today that will 
focus more pointedly on cybersecurity.

Congress' interest in cybersecurity remains high. Both the House and 
Senate continue to work toward comprehensive legislation on the issue. 
The House Committee on Homeland Security is marking up cybersecurity 
legislation Wednesday, and the Senate will move to consider a 
comprehensive cybersecurity bill later this month, though industry has 
raised concerns about cost over the Senate bill. The Senate homeland 
security and governmental affairs committee has indicated that it may 
hold a hearing on that bill within the next two weeks.

[...]


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