Janet Napolitano: Hackers have 'come close' to major cyberattack

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/janet-napolitano-hackers-have-come-close-to-major-cyber-attack/2011/10/27/gIQAZgQgMM_blog.html

By Ed O'Keefe
Federal Eye
The Washington Post
10/27/2011

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spends a considerable 
amount of time dealing with cybersecurity threats, including potential 
attacks on the nation’s infrastructure. But don’t ask her to detail the 
nation’s biggest cyber enemies.

“Oh, I don’t rank them, this isn’t basketball or something,” Napolitano 
said Thursday, earning her a laugh at the start of a Washington Post 
Live event on cybersecurity. “Threats are threats.”

Hackers have “come close”several times to shutting down elements of the 
nation’s infrastructure, she said, noting that Wall Street firms and 
transportation systems are frequent cyberattack targets.

“I think we all have to be concerned about a network intrusion that 
shuts down part of the nation’s infrastructure in such a fashion that it 
results in a loss of life,” she said.

Asked how many cyberattacks might have occurred over the course of her 
45-minute Q&A session, Napolitano responded, “Thousands.”

[...]

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