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July 15, 2011 – Today, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, issued the following comments after Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn disclosed in a speech this week that a Pentagon computer network had been penetrated and sensitive information was stolen:
“While it’s likely no government agency is immune from malicious cyber activity, the latest revelations that spies penetrated a Pentagon computer network and were undetected, perhaps for months, shows that we must improve our nation’s cyber defenses,” Senator Nelson said. “This should serve as a wake-up call that the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act should be passed because it will improve our cyber defense capabilities.
“It would enhance the ability to preempt an attack by requiring the Pentagon to acquire and incorporate alternative methods for cyber security attack detection. That includes capabilities developed by the National Security Agency and commercial industry to detect, analyze, and isolate new computer attacks and viruses almost as they are happening.
“Another new provision addresses insider threats, such as those we’ve seen from the ‘wikileaks’ event. It requires the Pentagon to develop a program to stop ‘insiders’ from being able to download and export large quantities of sensitive information from DOD networks.”
For a link to a summary of the bill, click here: http://armed-services.senate.gov/press/NDAA%20FY12%20Markup%20Press%20Release.pdf
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