NOW READ THIS
("Security Advisory")
Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master
NRT-0339 Senior Advisor to DoD Projects US Response to Growing Cyber Attacks:
Andrew Palowitch, Chief Technology Officer for Science Applications International
Corp's (SAIC's) Intelligence and Security Group and an advisor to the Department
of Defense (DoD), foresees that the United States will spend about $35 billion over
the next five years to defend itself in cyberspace, according to a press agency
report. He noted that given more than 37,000 attempted breaches of government and
private programs and 80,000 attacks on military networks in fiscal 2007 alone, some
would argue the United States was already in a "cyber war." He also noted several
steps the United States is already taking to protect its networks, stating, for
example, that the Pentagon has cut the number of gateways to its military network
to 13. Nevertheless, the overall US Government still has more than 1,300 connections
that could be vulnerable. The White House Office of Management and Budget recently
ordered that number to be cut to 50. He also noted that in working to prevent
attacks on military, government, and private computer networks, any aggressive
response raises legal, civil rights, and policy questions.
(Reuters, 27NOV07)