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Feds Prepare for Cyberwar

Attack by hackers, likely from China, could cut communications, power, banking

By Max Brallier,  Newser User

Posted Sep 27, 2007 7:57 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Readying for a new cyber doomsday in which Americans wake to find the power off, cell phones dead, and no access to cash, the Bush administration is considering creating an agency to protect critical public and private computers. Experts say that any attack, which would likely originate in China, would find the US woefully easy to take down, ABC reports.

"A Chinese general has talked about how they would reach out through cyberspace and turn off the power grid before any conflict with the United States," said a former White House counterterrorism official, while an internet security expert says China has free run of US networks—indeed, Chinese hacked into the defense secretary's computers in June. The administration is seeking $6 billion in funding.

Lee Altamirano works on a problem in the College Cyber Defenders program that teaches Internet and network security at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California.
Lee Altamirano works on a problem in the College Cyber Defenders program that teaches Internet and network security at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California.   (KRT Photos)
A Gateway computer, left, is on display next to an Acer computer at Best Buy computer store in Mountain View, Calif., Monday, Aug. 27, 2007. Acer Inc. plans to acquire U.S. computer maker Gateway Inc. for $710 million in a deal that will push the Taiwanese company past China's...
A Gateway computer, left, is on display next to an Acer computer at Best Buy computer store in Mountain View, Calif., Monday, Aug. 27, 2007. Acer Inc. plans to acquire U.S. computer maker Gateway Inc....   (Associated Press)
Michael Milner, a federal cybercrime investigator at NASA Langley Research Center, uses computer forensic techniques to fight crime.
Michael Milner, a federal cybercrime investigator at NASA Langley Research Center, uses computer forensic techniques to fight crime.   (KRT Photos)
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Technology • US • World

 
China • power grid • Defense • cyberterrorism • cyberattack • Internet security • defense secretary • computer network • George W. Bush

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