At the Security Innovation Network (SINET) Showcase at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., this week, Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, presented a dire assessment of the cyber-security threat facing our nation. He discussed how rogue governments and hackers are quietly infiltrating our computer systems and the disasters that can be perpetuated?like those you see on the TV show ?24?. Chertoff worries that these risks haven?t yet gripped the public imagination; that it may take a ?digital 9-11? to get businesses, consumers, and governments to fortify their defenses.
The most troublesome thing I learned by talking with a who?s who of our nation?s security community was that our government doesn?t believe it has the ability to defend us from the rapidly evolving threats. Yes, the National Security Agency and some branches of government have brilliant computer scientists working for them and can defend their own systems; but the rest of us are our own. The Government simply can?t innovate fast enough to keep pace with the pervasive threats and dynamics of the internet or Silicon Valley?s rapidly changing technologies. Indeed, as George Hoyem, a partner at the CIA-backed venture fund In-Q-Tel, noted, there has been a 571 percent growth in malware since 2006; today, 60 percent of all websites are infected.
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