Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking member Susan Collins over the weekend gave a sneak peek at a Monday hearing intended to examine cybercrime that is directed at small- to medium-sized companies. In a Sunday press release, the pair said the event precedes the introduction of legislation focused on combating high-tech attacks on the private sector. Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, also introduced a broad cyber bill earlier this year.

"The Internet now is a global asset - a new strategic high ground - that simply must be secured just as any military commander would seize and control the high ground of a battle field," Lieberman said. "But unlike a battlefield, securing cyberspace is much more complicated to do since the Internet is an open, public entity. Security cannot be achieved by the government alone." Collins added that for every communications advance, there is a risk that the technology will be misused. She cited estimates that cybercrime may cost the global economy $1 trillion in losses - nearly $8 billion of that in the United States.

Witnesses at the hearing include Heartland Payment Systems CEO Robert Carr; Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center President William Nelson; U.S. Secret Service Office of Investigations Assistant Director Michael Merritt; and Homeland Security Undersecretary for National Protection and Programs Philip Reitinger.