Rep. Wolf warns of Chinese cyber-espionage attempts
Congressman's makes floor speech after learning from the FBI that several of his office workstations were infiltrated by Chinese operatives.
Read the related Associated Press story.
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., is taking to the floor today to warn lawmakers that they must be vigilant in fighting government computer hackers. He prepared the speech after learning from the FBI that several of his office workstations were infiltrated by Chinese operatives.
Comment on this article in The Forum."I am deeply worried that this institution is not adequately protected," he said in prepared remarks. Wolf has previously called for hearings in the House Administration, Armed Services, Homeland Security and Judiciary committees, an aide said. Wolf said cyber-intrusions by China and other countries pose dangers not only to the entire U.S. government, including the military, and to the private sector.
"Computer systems control all critical infrastructures and nearly all of these systems are linked together through the Internet," he said in a prepared statement. "This means that nearly all infrastructures in the United States are vulnerable to being attacked, hijacked or destroyed by cyber means."
Wolf's statement cites a recent Congressional Research Service report and testimony from GAO that warn about the absence of a coordinated strategy for protecting federal computers and other technologies that house sensitive and top-secret information. According to the January CRS paper, about 140 foreign intelligence entities routinely try to hack U.S. government and private sector systems.
The GAO testimony, made before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee in March 2007, indicated that a number of public and private sector councils developed to comply with the Homeland Security Department's National Infrastructure Protection Plan were stymied by poor relationships with the agency. GAO also wrote that many corporate players are hesitant to share data on vulnerabilities with the government for fear the information would be released and open to competitors.
Wolf said he wants officials from Homeland Security and the FBI to brief all lawmakers in a closed session about threats from China and other countries against the security of government technology, including computers, PDA devices and telephones.
"We must prepare ourselves now and develop universal procedures for responding to this threat," he said, adding that lawmakers are "making this dangerous national security problem worse by not discussing it openly." Wolf plans to introduce a resolution directing the House to alert members and staff of "the dangers of electronic attacks on the computers and information systems."
But former Cyber Security Industry Alliance chief Tim Bennett said today that Wolf's concern is not enough "to propel forward federal legislation that is needed." Bennett added that espionage attempts are not new, but the tools spies are using to dig for sensitive data are rapidly advancing.