Cyber security: private-sector efforts addressing cyber threats: hearing before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection

OCLC Number: (OCoLC)48985440 Subject: Computer crimes -- United States -- Prevention. Excerpt: ...lnerable to cyber attacks. The greater the degree of interconnection and interdependence between the various information systems, the higher the cost of disruption due to cyber attacks. The Internet has tremendously accelerated this move toward increased interconnectivity and ease of access to information systems. And as such, the Internet connection to an information system containing mission critical information, such as financial data and intellectual property, has become a frequent point of cyber attacks. The custodian of the Nation's information systems, the ones underpinning our economic welfare, is of course private industry. Companies large and small have historically made great strides in protecting their mission critical information operating systems. However, the cyber security challenges that they face have both increased in number and magnitude as the importance of information systems to our economic welfare has increased with the advent of the Internet. We'll hear today that private industry is rising to these new challenges, but there still is more work to be done. For example, even though the horrific events of September 11, 2001 have put additional pressure on companies to reexamine their security procedures and practices, according to a recent poll of 150 chief information officers by CIO magazine, almost 40 percent of America's larger companies still do not have cyber security experts on staff or under contract. Cyber security measures cannot be an afterthought when designing, operating and managing mission critical information systems. Since September 11, we have learned that terrorists do have the wherewithal to undertake the unexpected. Terrorists and their recruits also have grown up in the digital age and thus, most probably, possess the technical skills to undertake concerted and effective cyber a...