Critical infrastructure protection: who's in charge?: hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate

LC Number: JF1525.A8 U7528 2002 OCLC Number: (OCoLC)50426204 Subject: Administrative agencies -- Computer networks -- Security measures -- United States. Excerpt: ...the Export Administration of the Department of Commerce. The directive also created a joint FBI and private sector office, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, which serves as a focal point for Federal threat assessment, vulnerability analysis, early-warning capability, law- enforcement investigations and response coordination. NIPC is also the private sector point of contact for information sharing. Finally, the directive recommended that we have the capacity and the capability to detect and respond to cyber attacks while they are in progress. The Federal Computer Incident Response Center gives agencies the tools to detect and respond to such attacks, and it coordinates response and detection information. We are fortunate today to have several witnesses who will present their views on the status of the Nation's critical infrastructures, and offer their recommendations on protecting public and private systems from outside attacks. Senator Thompson, would you like to make any opening remarks. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR THOMPSON Senator Thompson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, just very briefly. I think this is certainly a timely hearing. I think we all appreciate now the vulnerability that we have had for a long time, and one that we have discussed in this Committee and others on very many occasions, certainly including cyber security and the problems we have with computer security, and so forth. Of course, that was the background for Senator Lieberman and I introducing the Government Information Security Act. I think that we are now looking at all these threats through different glasses. Today we are probably going to emphasize, perhaps, one particular issue a little more than others, and that is the cyber threat. Now we are all fam...