H.R. 285: : Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2005: hearing before the Subcommittee on Economic Security, ... Security, House of Representatives, One Hund

LC Number: KF27 .H5725 2005a OCLC Number: (OCoLC)61896293 Subject: Computer security -- Law and legislation -- United States. Excerpt: ...m particularly acutely aware of that. They can also be launched coincident with physical attacks to interfere with our response and to make a bad situation even worse. It is typical to measure the potential cost of probabilities of such attacks. There are no standard methodologies for cost measurement, although the 2003 loss estimates due to hostile digital acts range from $13 billion, worms and viruses only, to $226 billion for all forms of overt attacks. Although accidental, the blackout of August 2003 may have cost us about 6--to $10 billion for the U.S. economy alone, which would amount to 1/10 of 1 percent of GDP. Clearly if the attack had been deliberate, the potential loss could have been much worse, and an attack on the financial services sector or the stock market could have incalculable long-term economic repercussions. Recognizing this importance of cybersecurity to homeland and economic security, the Congress, when it created the Department of Homeland Security, directed this new department to lead the effort to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy for the Nation. In response, the Department established the National Cybersecurity Division within the Information, Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate headed by a Director reporting to the Assistant Secretary of Infrastructure Protection. As chairman of the subcommittee, I appreciate the oversight work that was done by the Select Committee on the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Science, and Research and Development during the last Congress, which culminated in the subcommittee's excellent report entitled Cybersecurity for the Homeland. The report makes clear that under current organizational structure, cybersecurity has not received the priority and attention it deserves within t...