Lieberman Pushes for Cybersecurity Bill as Government Announces Cost of Cyber Theft

Press Release

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Tuesday reacted to the announcement by General Keith Alexander, head of the U.S. Cyber Command, that the U.S loses billions of dollars each year because of cyber espionage and cyber crime, constituting the "greatest transfer of wealth in history."

"General Alexander offered a startling set of statistics yesterday on the losses our nation is suffering because of cyber espionage and cyber crime. The general estimated that the U.S. loses $250 billion annually in intellectual property theft and $338 billion annually in financial theft. If those numbers don't argue for improving our cybersecurity - both in the public and private domains - I don't know what will.

"How much longer will we sit on the sidelines watching as our future slips from our hands? I urge the Senate to take up legislation requiring minimum cybersecurity standards for our most critical, life-sustaining cyber systems so we can be assured that our ingenuity, hard work, and wealth will not be stolen by our competitors and our enemies."

The Cybersecurity Act of 2012, sponsored by Senators Lieberman, Susan Collins, Jay Rockefeller, and Dianne Feinstein, calls for minimum cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure to protect our most critical and life-sustaining networks and systems from attack.

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