Austin American-Statesman - Preventing a Cyber Pearl Harbor

Op-Ed

By Michael McCaul

Every day, America is under attack. The digital networks of American businesses and the U.S. government are under siege from dangerous cyber hackers intent on stealing trade secrets and sensitive information. And hackers who aren't there to steal are preying on our networks to destroy systems and wreak havoc.

The attacks on Target and Home Depot stole the personal information and credit cards of millions of Americans. The cyber breach at Anthem compromised the health care accounts of 80 million individuals -- affecting 1 out of every 4 Americans in the most private way.

When North Korea hacked Sony Pictures, the North Koreans weren't there to steal. They snuck in to Sony's digital network to cause destruction and embarrassment and to chill our freedom of speech.

People always ask me what keeps me up at night -- in addition to the kinetic threats posed by ISIS and al-Qaida -- it is cyberattacks on our nation that concern me the most. Our offense capabilities are strong, but our cyber defense capabilities are weak. We cannot sent a signal of weakness to our adversaries.

If North Korea had targeted an American utility network rather than an entertainment company, imagine the chaos. Rather than Americans reading embarrassing internal emails of Sony Pictures executives and movie stars, entire cities like Austin, Houston and Dallas could have gone dark, ATM machines, traffic lights and all. The spate of increasing cyberattacks on American computer systems is alarming and very dangerous. Iran attacks our financial sector on a daily basis in response to the sanctions we have imposed.

Last week the U.S. Congress took decisive action to help protect America's cyber networks. What we saw on Capitol Hill last week was really astounding. The partisan bickering that often plagues Congress was absent as Republicans and Democrats alike, in the House of Representatives, joined together to pass a cybersecurity bill that will significantly boost the ability of private companies and the U.S. government to better protect their digital networks.

The National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act, which I introduced in Congress just two weeks ago, passed the House with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 355-63.

The bill protects our nation's networks, both public and private, by removing the legal barriers to the sharing of cyber threat information. This bill is pro-privacy, it is pro-security, and it has widespread support from industry. Participation in the sharing of vicious malware threats is voluntary. It allows us a stronger hold on the keys to our networks to lock the door and keep these nation states and criminals out.

Nation states like Russia and China continue to steal our intellectual property and conduct espionage against our nation. Gen. Keith Alexander described this cyber thievery as "the greatest transfer of wealth in history."

No one is immune to cyberattacks. Everyone is at risk. The recent hacking by Russians into the U.S. State Department and White House computer systems shows that American networks across the board are vulnerable.

We also face a growing threat from cyber terrorists, like the ISIS sympathizers who hacked U.S. Central Command's social media account. Terrorists and state-sponsors of terror, like Iran, want nothing more than to carry out a destructive cyberattack to cause chaos and shut things down in the United States, including our power grids.

Many refer to the very real threat of a "cyber Pearl Harbor." Today, this generation faces different threats to our national security that the generations before us. We now live in a new threat environment where digital bombs can go undetected and cause massive devastation. The cyber security bill I introduced, and that passed overwhelmingly by Congress last week, will help protect America in this new frontier.

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