As the federal government attempts to reinforce the nation's cyber-security posture — the Pentagon has launched the U.S. Cyber Command and the Barack Obama administration is developing cyber-terrorism incident response plans — experts warn that the IT running the nation's supply chains is just as vulnerable as anything else.
The technology behind the systems that provide basic goods and services is a target too.
"If you took down the ports of Los Angeles or Long Beach and made it so that none of the container ships could arrive, even if they knew that they were supposed to go there, that would be an equally disastrous thing. I'm sure that terrorists and would-be enemies of the United States are looking at that just as hard as they're looking at [cyber-warfare]," said Tom Wilkerson, a retired major general for the Marines and CEO of the United States Naval Institute.
The institute partnered with CACI International, a provider of professional and IT solutions for defense application, on a series of symposiums about the issue. In March the parties held the first symposium, Cyber Threats to National Security — Countering Challenges to the Global Supply Chain, and published a report in August discussing the thoughts and recommendations attendees expressed there.
Go to Government Technology to read more about securing the nation’s supply chains.
[Photo courtesy of James R. Tourtellotte/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection.]
A view of the Port of Long Beach, Calif.
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