US unable to guard against cyber attacks: Intel director Blair

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The chief of US national intelligence warned Wednesday that America’s “cyber defenders” are not yet able to guard national networks against the threat of attack. The comment follows revelations that California-based Google and three major US oil companies may have been compromised by overseas hackers.

Speaking to a congressional committee, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said that hackers are becoming more sophisticated and that the “technological balance” favors those looking to use cyberspace maliciously. He highlighted that the threat affects not only private company networks but also national security, reports Fox News.

[Blair] said one critical "factor" is that more and more foreign companies are supplying software and hardware for government and private sector networks.

"This increases the potential for subversion of the information in ... those systems," Blair said.

Blair also told Congress Wednesday that the Internet is providing the fuel for the growing problem of "homegrown radicalization."

"That ... has been one of the most dangerous uses of the Internet," Blair said, explaining that foreign groups are using the Internet to organize attacks, give instructions, and arrange financing.

Last summer, bank and government Web sites in South Korea and the United States were paralyzed for days by a concerted attack that was blamed on North Korea. Some saw the blitz as a test of both the strength of the nations’ security systems and of the communist state’s capabilities, though it was never confirmed that Pyongyang was responsible.

In 2007 alone, there were around 37,000 cyber attacks in the United States, eight times 2005 levels, according to a recently published estimate that cited data from the Department of Homeland Security, The Christian Science Monitor reported.

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