This reality was recently driven home when the Pentagon revealed on February 25 that its unclassified computer networks had been broken into with a synchronized cyber-attack. We have been aware of the vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks of our computer networks for almost a decade. In 1988, I chaired hearings of the Subcommittee on Technology and the Law on high-tech terrorism. It took a some time, but finally we have in place the necessary advisory group to identify the vulnerabilities of our critical infrastructure and work with the private sector on our best defenses. New technologies are available for defensive countermeasures, if only we would use them.
Encryption is one such technology.
At the 1988 High-Tech Terrorism hearing, R. James Woolsey, who subsequently became the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, testified about the need to do a better job of using encryption to protect our computer networks. I have long advocated the use of strong encryption by individuals, government agencies and private companies to protect their valuable computer information and have sponsored legislation to encourage the widespread use of encryption. Unfortunately, we still have a long away to go to update our country s encryption policy to reflect that this technology is a significant crime and terrorism prevention tool. The Senate is poised to pass a bill, S.493, that Senator Kyl shepherded through this Committee to amend current laws penalizing the theft of cellular telephone service. Yet if strong encryption were used to encrypt the radio waves transmitted from cellular phones to the nearest cell tower, stealing those signals for use in a clone phone would be much more difficult if not impossible.