US IT infrastructure said to be highly vulnerable to attack
24 August 2005
News
The United States' information technology infrastructure, which includes air traffic control systems, power grids, financial systems, and military and intelligence cyber networks, is highly vulnerable to terrorist and criminal attacks, according to an article in the August issue of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer.
"The country's problem with cyber security is very serious, and is going to get worse in the next five years before it gets any better," said IEEE-USA research and development policy committee chair, Cliff Lau. "I would say the situation not only is alarming, but is almost out of control."
Author, Barton Reppert, who interviewed two members of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), notes that 100 000 known viruses and worms exist, and that some major end-users are throwing out infected systems rather than trying to fix them. However, according to PITAC, there is little federal budgetary support for fundamental research to address the security vulnerabilities of the civilian IT infrastructure, including defence systems.
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