Washington, DC – Today, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General issued a report on the FBI’s Ability to Address the National Security Cyber Intrusion Threat. The report can be found here: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a1122r.pdf
The following is the statement of U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
"We learned this week about another massive cyber breach, perhaps the largest in history — this time targeting Sony’s online gaming network. The threat of cyber attacks continues to grow every day. The FBI reports that small and medium-size businesses in the U.S. lost more than $11 million over the past year in online scams in which stolen banking credentials were used in fraudulent wire transfers to companies in China. The annual cost of cyber crime worldwide has climbed to more than $1 trillion. According to a report last year from the Senate’s Sergeant at Arms, on average each month 1.8 billion cyber attacks target the computer systems of Congress and Executive Branch agencies.
"That is why it is so troubling that the federal government has not adequately trained its cyber professionals to combat these threats. Of particular concern in today’s report is the fact that about one third of the FBI’s cyber investigative squads surveyed by the DOJ Inspector General lacked the forensic and analytical expertise to adequately investigate intrusions.
"The need for a strong cyber security workforce in federal government is more urgent than ever. Congress must act to pass strong cyber security legislation such as the bill that Senator Lieberman and I have introduced."
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