Comments on: 9 out of 10 people believe the US is vulnerable to cyber warfare

By: Tony Bradley

Tony Bradley — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:27:14 +0000

That’s true. Much of what is considered to be part of the critical infrastructure for the nation is actually comprised of privately held companies that the government has no direct control over. However, those businesses that fall into that category need to recognize and respect the importance they have to the safety and stability of the nation as a whole, and be willing to cooperate with and take direction from the government moreso than say a coffee shop or a guitar store. The government relies on that cooperation to some extent as well, because the utilities know their business and their weaknesses better than the government. They have to work together to identify weaknesses and develop protection, mitigation, and emergency response plans.

By: Tony Bradley

Tony Bradley — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:21:01 +0000

The United States government seems to have some very advanced and innovative cyber security tools, but it’s fairly universally accepted that the critical infrastructure is exposed to risk and insufficiently protected.

By: TomLiotta

TomLiotta — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 07:04:28 +0000

But the U.S. government doesn’t control much of the overall power grid infrastructure. While I suspect major gridlines may be more secure, in Washington state as well as many others, local and regional power infrastructure is controlled by Public Utilities Districts. These are often small organizations with all of the issues of basic small business anywhere. A weakness in any one of them provides an opening perhaps to all of the others. Escalation of authorities can be useful regardless of the type of system. — Tom

By: Michael Tidmarsh

Michael Tidmarsh — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:18:05 +0000

I'm amazed 92% of Americans think critical infrastructures are vulnerable to attack, especially when the United States government has some of the best securities against these type of attacks.