US homeland security officials have warned of the dangers that a terrorist cyber-attack would pose to the United States.
"The attacks that have been launched to date have been relatively unsophisticated and undisruptive," said Mr Amit Yoran, director of the National Cyber Security Division, at a meeting with government officials and executives of technology companies. "But we cannot count on that forever or for long."
Mr Tom Ridge, Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, told attendees at the National Cyber Security Summit that the Internet and corollary networks that modern US industries depend on "do present an attractive target for terrorists".
A simulated attack on banks, utilities and other companies and government agencies in October showed problems in communication between corporations and government that would need to react quickly, Mr Ridge said yesterday. It "is still not as smooth as it could be," he said.
Officials are worried that cyber attackers could bring chaos to telecommunications systems, banking and trading networks and other infrastructure with crippling viruses or by breaking into networks through holes in software or other methods.
Discussions at the two-day event centred on how to establish an early warning system for cyber attacks, develop secure software and make executives and consumers more aware of the need for better practices.
More than 76,000 cyber-security breaches were reported in the first half of this year, representing an increase from previous years, Mr Ridge said.
