TechAmerica Praises Obama’s Cyber Czar

By Rachel St. Amant- Talk Radio News Service

TechAmerica held a media briefing in which they announced their collaboration with the government on the 60 day cyber security project which will create cyber security office.

The association of leading technology companies came out in support of President Barack Obama’s plan to tie public and private institutions together in the hopes of enhancing cyber security.

“The President came out and visibly made his commitment to this effort,” said Enrique Salem, CEO of Symantec.

President Obama said “We need to develop new standards for the cyber-security that protects our most important infrastructures, from electrical grids to sewage systems, from air traffic control to our markets."

John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, said “The national security and economic health of the United States depend on the security, stability and integrity of our nation's cyberspace, both in the public and private sectors."

“We clearly articulated what the risk are, what the threats are,” Salem said.

Phil Dunkelberger, CEO of PGP Corporation agreed, saying “I thought it was important that he (President Obama) linked cyber security to the future of the U.S.”

TechAmerica also affirmed its satisfaction for the new cyber security office regarding the security it will provide to small businesses and individuals.

Dunkelberger argued that “Those (security) rights should be encouraged and that is what the government does.”

On the new collaboration between the public and the private sectors Harriet Pearson said “The relationship that the administration is building is going to be key.”

Despite the efforts of the previous administration to address this topic, TechAmerica seems more enthusiastic about Obama’s plan.

Phil Bond said “ What makes it a fundamental shift is the personal commitment taken by the president”, adding that “He is putting a lot of chips on the table, politically.”

However, Salem warned that “I think its important that we do not let it get caught up in the bureaucracy.”

Tightening Security On Cyber Attacks

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio New Service

Legislation to tighten prevention on cyber hackings into America’s electric grid entered the House and Senate today.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Missi.) authors of their respective chamber’s bill want to give more authority to the Department of Homeland Security to address current vulnerabilities in the electric grid and better protect the system from potential threats.

The electric grid is the heart of all electricity supplies in America, providing every community in very state with power. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are “more than 3,100 electric utilities in America.” If one of the utilities is hacked into by an unwanted source, then whole towns or cities could be left without power. Hacking could also lead to a potential security risk as Homeland Security data could then be read by hackers.

Thompson said, “Right now FERC (The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)has the responsibility for working with the electric industry, but the industry polices itself, so basically what we want to do in this bill, is to give FERC additional authority to require
industries to do what’s in their best interests from the cyber standpoint. They’ve been good so far, but now that we know that potential threats are out here and the fact that hacking and other situations have occurred, we think it’s in our best interests that this legislation be put forward today.”

Lieberman added, “Our cyber systems are under constant attack...the reality is that we are not adequately defended and therefore the basic systems, including particularly electricity on which we depend are not protected. This has got to change. We have got to close the gap between the attacks on us and our ability to defend them.”

Changes to the current legislation, The Federal Power Act, outlined in Thompson and Lieberman’s amendment have stemmed from recommendations by the “Former Chairman of FERC, the chairman of the Association of the Utilities, numerous cyber experts and representatives from the industries,” who all told Congress that these changes were “necessary,” Lieberman said.

Lending his support to the bill, Congressman Peter King (R-N.Y.) said, “In the summer of 2003 when we had the blackout in the north-east that

Pentagon releases report on Chinese military power

Today the Department of Defense released its annual assessment of Chinese military power. The U.S. Congress as well as the President have been briefed on the report which outlines technical and political changes in the overall Chinese military capabilities. The report concludes that the People's Liberation Army is moving away from a massive force size aimed at gaining the upper hand in wars of attrition to a strategy of short-term, high tech engagements particularly at sea, on Chinese borders and in disputed territories.

One discovery in this year's assessment is that the Chinese have been stepping up weapons development in order to fight in "informataized" situations or a circumstance where operations are inhibited by communications jamming, electronic surveillance and precision weapons. The report also found that the Chinese are developing capabilities to deal with joint operations or the ability to engage multiple force (air force, naval, etc) offensives.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, David Sedney held a briefing for Pentagon reporters on the report. He said that the Chinese government has always protested the report and he expects that they will protest this year's report as mischaracterizing Chinese intentions. But he said that the most difficult part of creating the report was to assess Chinese intention, because there is such a lack of transparency when it comes to investigating Chinese military assets.

He highlighted the realm of cyber military initiatives citing the report which said that cyber "intrusions' of U.S. computer systems where sensitive, and possibly proprietary business information may have been breached through invasion could be linked to the People's Liberation Army. He said that this is the newest challenge when it comes to responding to Chinese military tactics.

The military report affirmed that China has "the most active ballistic missile program in the world." One of the missiles being developed is an anti-ship missile, fired from land and designed to intercept a ship, even one as large as an aircraft carrier at medium to long-range distances. The controversial 2007 launch of an anti-satellite missile was mentioned in the report as evidence of China's space and couterspace military technology.

The report does note an uptick in Taiwan's spending to 3 percent of GDP in 2008. The increase is also directed at increasing missile technology The report said that the United States remains helpful in providing information to Taiwan to continue developing self defense technology.