U.S. unprepared for ongoing cyberwar

This story by Bob Brewin in GovExec.com says that we're already engaged in cyberwar, but aren't anywhere close to prepared.

"Cyberwarfare is already here.... It's one of our major challenges," said Defense Deputy Secretary Gordon England on Monday at the annual National Community Service and Legislative Conference of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"I think cyberattacks are probably analogous to the first time, way back when people had bows and arrows and spears," he said. "And somebody showed up with gunpowder and everybody said, 'Wow. What was that?'"

England made his comments the same day that the Pentagon released a report saying that the 2007 cyberattacks against its networks and those operated by other governments around the world "appear" to come from China.

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. John Thune, D-S.D., asked National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell if the United States was prepared to deal with threats against military and civil networks and information systems. "We're not prepared to deal with it," said McConnell, identifying both China and Russia as adversaries who are attempting to penetrate U.S. information systems.

Army Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, agreed with McConnell and told the panel that a key threat facing this country is the "sophisticated ability of select nations and nonstate groups to exploit and perhaps target for attack our computer networks."