Network Security News

Hearing: Too few people aware of cyberattacks

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The nation's cybersecurity is in dire need of an update to plug the various vulnerabilities and dangers within the network, according to a U.S. House subcommittee that met this week.

IT security professionals gathered in Washington DC this week to discuss the challenges of improving the state of the country's web and network security and the goals of President Obama's 60-day review of the federal cybersecurity initiatives that were ordered last month.

The hearing, the first of three this month, was before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, Science and Technology, which is chaired by Representative Yvette Clarke.

"We find ourselves in an extremely dangerous situation today too many vulnerabilities exist on too many critical networks, which are exposed to too many skilled attackers who can inflict too many damages to our systems," the New York Democrat said in her opening statements. "Unfortunately, to this day, too few people are even aware of these dangers, and fewer still are doing anything about it."

Other security experts present at the meeting said the country wasn't ready for a large-scale online attack and that things needed to change, SCMagazineus.com reports.