LIEBERMAN HAILS PRESIDENT’S CYBERSECURITY MESSAGE

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., issued the following statement Tuesday after the President’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress:

“The President’s call for Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation underscores the pressing nature of securing the government’s cyber systems and networks - and a limited number of private sector networks that touch the lives of all Americans.

“This is nothing less than a matter of national security. The Secretary of Defense has warned that the next Pearl Harbor could be a cyber attack. Our systems are being tested, probed, and attacked on a minute-by-minute basis by hackers, criminals, and foreign powers. And we are losing our intellectual property and military and industrial secrets to cyber thieves at an alarming pace.

“The nation’s ever increasing dependence upon cyber networks in all aspects of our lives demands action now. Majority Leader Reid, Senators Rockefeller, Collins, Carper, and I are committed to bringing bipartisan cybersecurity legislation to the floor in the next few weeks. We call on our colleagues to come together across party lines to help us ensure the integrity of our electronic world.”

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