Cyber professionals told lawmakers that voluntary guidelines will not work and strong cybersecurity legislation is needed to secure the nation’s critical infrastructure, GCN reports.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) called for the House Homeland Security Committee’s Oversight, Investigations and Management subcommittee hearing, held Tuesday, prior to scheduled debates later this week on three cyber bills.
Without legislation this year, an attack is inevitable, said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The experts indicated to lawmakers that the U.S. is in danger of losing its technological leadership and economic competitiveness, while leaving the nation’s infrastructure in jeopardy.
Shawn Henry, former FBI cyber leader and president of cyber startup CrowdStrike Services, repeated his belief that the networks not defensible and that operators need to assume they will be compromised.
Henry said public government cyber reports are hardly the full threat picture, adding that he knows nation-states are gathering data on U.S. confidential weapon information.
While lawmaker McCaul accused China and Russia of being the most aggressive cyber nation threats, Lewis indicated he is more concerned with Iran and North Korea, who are working to achieve cyber war capability.
The U.S. knows how to solve the program, but it is a matter of getting people to agree to implement the necessary method, McAfee Chief Technology Officer Stuart McClure said.
The House will debate cyber bills that would update FISMA, boost cyber research and defense efforts and increase cyber development, focusing on general information technology components Thursday.
