Woodward: Are our computers safe?

'Crisis of confidence'
Woodward, whose appearance at the conference so soon after the Deep Throat revelation was a coincidence of scheduling, chaired a panel discussion of former White House cyberczars. The heavily attended session took on the question of what role the federal government — and the Bush administration in particular — should play in protecting the nation from cyberattack.

The former cyberczars, Howard Schmidt, Amit Yoran and Roger Cressey, all served post 9/11 and have since left government and returned to private industry. While Yoran and Schmidt said they left simply because their assignments were complete, Cressey was sharply critical of Bush’s computer security policies.

"The bumper sticker would say this administration doesn't care about cyberspace," Cressey said.  "I wouldn't go that far, but there is a general feeling that this administration is unwilling to elevate the issue."

Despite public-private partnerships and the creation of government offices devoted to security, consumers are feeling increasingly insecure about their computers and the Internet, Cressey said.

"There is a growing crisis of confidence, and more and more people may decide that cyberspace is a place they don't want to go," he said.

Yoran said that even though he has spent his career working in security, he is only about 70 percent sure that his home computer is completely safe from outside attackers.

Worst-case scenarios
The discussion also focused on the possibility of an electronic 9/11, or at a terrorist attack with an Internet-based component.

"The question that is pulsing with everyone ... is why haven't we been attacked again," Woodward said.  "My dark view ... is somebody is telling them to wait."

Yoran and Schmidt said it's particularly difficult for government to protect against unknown attacks, and even more difficult to take credit when such attacks are thwarted. That also prevents cybersecurity from getting more White House attention, they said.

"How do you measure the negative?" Schmidt said. 

Worst-case scenarios discussed involved "cascading effects" from limited computer outages, such as recent incidents that temporarily crippled airlines, or the 2003 northeast blackout. Such incidents reveal how fragile connected computer systems are. A new 9/11 could include a multi-layered attack, or “swarm” attack which included some electronic elements, Cressey said.

Still, there hasn't been a significant terrorist-related computer incident, leading some to describe the threat as over-exaggerated.

Ultimately, Woodward said, if something does happen, no one will be able to say they weren't warned. "We are now in an environment in which we have all been put on notice."

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