Carper Condemns Gov't Web Attacks
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Thomas Carper, D-Del., said sweeping computer attacks that impaired the Web sites of several agencies including the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and the Transportation Department around July 4 demonstrate that the U.S. government needs to be better armed to fight 21st century security threats. News reports late Tuesday and early Wednesday said the attacks were targeted at varying points over recent days, and sites of 11 South Korean organizations were targeted as well. The activity was a possible coordinated assault by North Korea, officials with knowledge of the incidents told various media outlets.
In April, Carper introduced legislation that would bring big changes to the way agencies protect sensitive information. His bill would modernize the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, and empower agency chief information security officers to focus their efforts on monitoring, detecting and preventing cyber intrusions. It would also augment the power of the Homeland Security Department's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team to be proactive before a cyber attack penetrates government networks. "We need to pass this legislation so our federal agencies can stop spending billions of taxpayers' dollars on wasteful paper compliance and instead invest in real security - the kind of security that prevents these types of attacks," Carper said.
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