Witnesses Tell Tipton Cyber Threats Abound Ahead of House Intelligence Bill Vote
WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 17, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Scott Tipton (R-CO) questioned a panel of witnesses on cyber threats posed to U.S. infrastructure by foreign actors including China. The hearing in the Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations was held on the heels of massive cyber security breaches that have compromised the sensitive personal information of millions of Americans.
Tipton questioned the panel of cyber security experts on internal and external cyber infrastructure vulnerabilities including threats posed through compromised software, and sleeper malware which can be installed and then activated at a later date.
Watch Tipton’s exchange with the witnesses HERE
“When we look at the Chinese as an example, they have our plans for the F-35—they’re not only coming at it from an economic standpoint, but from a military standpoint as well,” said Tipton. “The best offense is a good defense. Shouldn’t we be incredibly concerned if the Chinese government and other actors are able to infiltrate our military industrial complex to steal some of our best technology, and then in the financial end of the world exploit bank accounts, and could also shut down the electrical grid? How do we get components together to be on offense against these threats?”
The witnesses testified private public partnerships that utilize private sector security solutions can play a significant role in addressing cyber security threats.
Michael Maddon, Board of Advisors Member, Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, suggested a number of solutions including establishing a “rewards program for groups to uncover, identify and deliver cyber-hackers to U.S. courts and authorities; empowering the victims of attacks to sue the perpetrators and those benefiting directly from cyber infiltrations, just as victims of terrorist attacks can do so today; and unleashing cyber forensic teams and private litigants and plaintiffs lawyers against those attacking U.S. systems.”
The House is expected to vote later today on the FY 2016 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 2596) which authorizes a number of programs to combat cyber security threats, including establishing the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The CTIIC will coordinate U.S. intelligence efforts to identify and analyze cyber threats and work with relevant agencies to mitigate those threats. Tipton plans to vote for the measure.
“I actually think China in the long-term will have enough to lose that they will recognize that there is some change in behavior that they need to consider and think about. Unfortunately, it’s not there now. They’re seeing immediately in front of them ‘why spend billions in research and development if we can just steal it and spend it on gaining market share.’ But at some point they will have market share that they are really concerned about that I think could level it out a little bit,” said Frank Cilluffo, Director, Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and co-Director, Cyber Center for National and Economic Security. “Which is different than actors that want to cause harm, and I’m not suggesting China doesn’t because they are investing in our military technologies as well, but that’s something that we need to be thinking about.”
