Washington — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano led a delegation of top U.S. intelligence and security officials in a Senate briefing on threats posed by computer attacks as lawmakers consider a new measure to strengthen cyberdefenses.
The classified briefing February 1 followed testimony on the worldwide threat assessment, an annual Washington hearing with the heads of the government’s intelligence and counterterrorism agencies, who this year cited cyberthreats as a major security concern.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said countering cybersecurity threats will become the top priority for the U.S. intelligence community in the future. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee January 31, he said the FBI is focusing on cybersecurity as “the next substantial threat,” and laid out a three-part plan to address it.
First, Mueller called for the intelligence community to change its organizational structure to more effectively combat cyberthreats. The intelligence community long has known that threats against the United States could come in the form of cyber-espionage or threats to critical infrastructure such as the nation’s utilities and transportation systems.
“In the same way we changed to address terrorism, we have to change to address cybercrime. We have to recruit and hire and bring on the persons who are capable of doing it,” he said.
The director also called for local, state and federal agencies to share intelligence to more effectively address cyberthreats. Mueller commended the Obama administration’s development of the National Cyber Investigative Task Force, created to bring together all bureaus with a role in addressing computer attacks in order to combat threats collectively.
Mueller’s third point addressed the need for legislation to create a national data-breach protocol for reporting cyberthreats.
Cyberthreats were cited by other intelligence chiefs during the January 31 briefing as a major security concern due to the ever-increasing importance of information technology as a key part of the infrastructure of modern societies. The speed with which these technologies move into more and more aspects of life far exceeds the pace at which security practices are adopted, according to the assessment by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
“We foresee a cyber-environment in which emerging technologies are developed and implemented before security responses can be put in place,” Clapper testified.
To avoid this, lawmakers have proposed a bill to compel operators of vital infrastructure, such as power grids, water-treatment plants and phone carriers, to boost cyberdefenses. The Senate measure, which has yet to be formally introduced, would authorize the Homeland Security Department to identify infrastructure critical to the U.S. economy and national security and develop standards that must be met to protect them.
