America Getting Ready For A War With China
Defence Secretary Panetta
warns of 'cyber Pearl Harbour'
Cyber-attacks could
inflict as much damage on the US as the physical attacks on 11
September 2001, the US defence secretary has warned.
Leon Panetta said the country was preparing to take pre-emptive
action if a serious cyber-attack was imminent.
He said US intelligence showed "foreign actors" were targeting
control systems for utilities, industry and transport.
Advanced tools were being created to subvert key computer control
systems and wreak havoc, said Mr Panetta.
"An aggressor nation or extremist group could gain control of
critical switches and derail passenger trains, or trains loaded
with lethal chemicals," said Mr Panetta in a speech to business
leaders held on the USS Intrepid - a former aircraft carrier that
is now a museum.
"They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut
down the power grid across large parts of the country.
"Such a destructive cyber-terrorist attack could paralyse the
nation and create a profound new sense of vulnerability," he said.
Smaller scale cyber-attacks were now commonplace, said Mr
Panetta.
Cyber-attacks could inflict as much damage
as 9/11. warned the US defense secretary
In recent weeks, many large US firms had suffered attacks that
had involved them being bombarded with huge amounts of data, he
said. In addition, oil companies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia had
been hit by the Shamoon attack, which had tried to replace
computer data with gibberish. About 30,000 machines were hit by
the Shamoon attack.
The US defence department had developed tools to trace attackers,
he added, and a cyber-strike force that could conduct operations
via computer networks. And it was now finalising changes to its
rules of engagement that would define when it could "confront
major threats quickly".
"Potential aggressors should be aware that the United States has
the capacity to locate them and hold them accountable for actions
that harm America or its interests," he said.
"If we detect an imminent threat of attack that will cause
significant physical destruction or kill American citizens, we
need to have the option to take action to defend the nation, when
directed by the president."