” Cyber-invaders.” That’s what Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) calls the hackers who have already twice this month broken into two PC workstations used by several of his key staff members.
Although no classified information was kept on the breached PCs, the break-in demonstrates system vulnerabilities at the highest levels of government.
In fact, Nelson says similar breaches on Capitol Hill computer networks are on the rise in recent months, based on reports from various Capitol Hill IS offices.
“The threat to our national security, to be sure, is real; and, it will require significant investment and inter-agency coordination at an unprecedented level to gain an upper hand against would-be cyber criminals and spies,” Nelson said in a statement. “These are anxious days, when you consider the threat from such espionage facing our country and recent developments on this front.”
These and other more serious breaches have led Nelson, along with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, to call for the creation of a permanent national “cyber-security czar” reporting directly to President Obama. The threee Senators have begun drafting legislation that, if passed, will require federal oversight and review of both government and “critical private networks,” and create a “public-private clearinghouse for cyber threat and vulnerability information-sharing.”
Furthermore, another group of security and privacy experts has requested that President Obama create a federal library of data breach information in their report titled, The Perfect Storm: Why the New Administration Cannot Ignore Identity Theft.
Nelson’s call for tougher U.S. cybersecurity oversight comes less than two weeks before management consultant Melissa Hathaway is due to deliver the results of her 60-day review of current U.S. cybersecurity policy to President Obama.
Photo: Nelson (Tim Dillon/USA TODAY)
According to the WSJ, “Anticipating the demand, defense companies are bolstering training, buying smaller firms and hiring former top government officials. The move into the cyber-security field could offer new revenue streams for the contractors and help offset declines stemming from budget pressures on the Defense Department’s traditional weapons systems.”