Director of the CIA says such a terrorist attack is 'a real national security threat' that would damage financial and government systems.
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
11February2011 10:32pmEST
GCIS CYBER-SECURITY UPDATE: Washington —
A major cyber attack somewhere in the United States is becoming increasingly possible, top government intelligence officials said Thursday, warning that an assault on America's power grid 
system "represents the battleground for the future."
The officials, speaking at a special hearing on Capitol Hill, also said that although Al Qaeda has been diminished after nine years of the U.S. war on terror, more foreign groups have risen up, increasing concerns among U.S. authorities that one of them may eventually get their hands on a nuclear device.
"I don't think there's any question but that this is a real national security threat that we have to pay attention to," CIA Director Leon Panetta said of a cyber attack in this country. "The Internet, the cyber arena … this is a vastly growing area of information that can be used and abused in a number of ways."
With that in mind, he told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, "when it comes to national security, I think this represents the battleground for the future. I've often said that I think the potential for the next Pearl Harbor could very well be a cyber attack." (read full report)
