Computer-based network attacks are slowly bleeding US businesses of revenue and market advantage, while the government faces the prospect of losing in an all-out cyberwar, experts told senators in a hearing on Tuesday.
"If the nation went to war today in a cyberwar, we would lose," said Michael McConnell, executive vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton's national security business and a former director of national security and national intelligence. "We're the most vulnerable. We're the most connected. We have the most to lose."
The US will not be able to mitigate the risk from cyberattack until the government gets more actively involved in protecting the nation's network, which may not occur until after a "catastrophic event" happens, McConnell said in testimony during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
For more on this story, see Experts warn of catastrophe from cyberattacks on CNET News.
Talkback
Before that happens, the US government will start leveraging military strength against the countries who *should* be responsible in keeping their citizenry in check. I'm frankly sick of the horrendously irresponsible attitude of the rest of the world. It's like you glorify anything that hurts the US. It appears to me to be nothing more than wishful thinking based on some pseudo-nostalgic view of yourselves as 'world powers.'
Booz Allen Hamilton are technology consultants with a vest interest in causing panic which in turn generates business for them. A quick study reveals they jump on any bandwagon that gets the populist masses in a roil, and they consistently play both sides of the fence.