Cyber security a top priority according to business leaders | 06.26.2006 | 08:43:57 | Views: 4356 | ID: June 26: A recent review of the nation's cybersecurity status found that US homeland security operations and the economy would suffer a "significant impact" if a terrorist or hacker were to inflict an attack on the US, BetaNews reported late last week. The report was issued by the Business Roundtable, a group of top business leaders in the US who represent more than $4.5 trillion in annual revenues. Causes for concern, according to the group, include an ambiguity in response and a lack of coordination between the private and public sectors. Additionally, there are no early warning systems "to monitor cyber attacks, and whether or not they are spreading rapidly," as well as the availability of money to push research and development of programs designed to mitigate or eliminate the possibility of an attack. That news comes on the heals of a story released Monday morning by Washington Technology which round that "As key computer industry leaders see it, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan for the nation's critical assets should cover virtual and logical IT resources as well as physical ones. IT is likely to be the nation's only economic sector defined primarily by intangible assets." Currently, the US government is working within the Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team which "coordinates defense against and responses to cyber attacks." The agency, created in 2003, also analyses current cyber threats and vulnerabilities, as well as helping to spread information about possible attacks while helping to coordinate a response to attacks. But, according to State Farm chairman and CEO Edward Rust, "If there's a cyber disaster, there is no emergency number to call - and no one in place to respond because our nation simply doesn't have the kind of coordinated plan in place that we need to restart and restore the internet." BetaNews quoted John J. Castellani, the President of the Roundtable: "If our nation is hit by a cyber Katrina that wipes out large parts of the Internet, there is no coordinated plan in place. ... Because of the widespread consequences of a massive cyber disruption, our nation cannot wait until an incident occurs to start planning the response."
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