Michael Chertoff, the former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), recently remarked that “cyber threats represent one of the most seriously disruptive challenges to national security since the onset of the nuclear age 60 years ago.” Mr. Chertoff may be on to something. In its April 2012 monthly monitoring report, DHS announced that various companies in the national gas pipeline industry were apparently being targeted by cyber attacks. Between October 2011 and February 2012, DHS claimed that there were 86 reported attacks on U.S. computer systems controlling U.S. critical infrastructure.
To address these threats, several competing bills were recently introduced in Congress—however, it is unlikely that the current bills will be enacted into law in the near future.
