Washington, DC (ip-192.com): If the US wants to have a chance surviving a large scale cyber-attack, the government needs to take a more active role in securing the Internet. That’s the essence of what industry experts told Congress, arguing that more government regulations may be the only way to force the public and private sectors to adequately counter cyber threats.
"If the nation went to war today, in a cyber war, we would lose," former Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told a Senate panel. "Cyber has become so important to the lives of our citizens and the functioning of our economy that gone are the days when Silicon Valley could say hands off to a government role," he told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "We're the most vulnerable. We're the most connected. We have the most to lose."
The greatest threat to the United States comes from cyber espionage and cyber crime. "We will not mitigate this risk," added McConnell, now an executive vice president for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton's national security business. "And as a consequence of not mitigating this risk, we are going to have a catastrophic event."
McConnell called for establishing a National Cyber security Center modeled after the National Counter Terrorism Center set up after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The center should integrate elements of the Pentagon's proposed Cyber Command, the Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber security and Communications Integration Center and the cyber operations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, state and local governments and the private sector, said McConnel.
In 2008, losses from Internet crime reported by individuals in the United States added up to $264 Million, compared to $18 million of losses from 2001, according to the FBI. These losses were probably just a fraction of the losses caused to companies and government departments.
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