Bennett takes on another computerized threat Monday, April 17, 2000

The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY -- First U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett warned America about Y2K, now the Utah Republican is going after cyber-crime.

"It is a natural outgrowth," said Bennett. "Our Y2K experience demonstrated how vulnerable we are in computers."

Bennett thinks the next threats to the U.S. will be led by computer hackers.

"Whoever these people may be that wish us ill, they are attacking the Defense Department and the intelligence community computers virtually every day," he told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Bennett said it won't be long before the attacks target the private sector, probably through corporate telephone lines. When that happens, he predicts, the public will become as familiar with CIP -- or Critical Infrastructure Protection -- as it was with Y2K, the year 2000 computer bug.

In response, Bennett is heading a Senate group collecting information on how to combat cyber-attacks.

Many of the concerns of the new Critical Infrastructure Protection Working Group, which Bennett was appointed chairman of in late March, arise from earlier threats detected by the Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.

Although the Y2K threat proved overblown, said Roger Molander, a senior researcher with the RAND Corp., that does not mean CIP should not be taken seriously. "The Y2K threat -- in terms of character, strategic warning, preciseness of timing, etc. -- was inherently different from those that might be posed in the future by terrorist or nation state malevolent actors."

Though some critics say the country is developing an un healthy paranoia about high-tech threats, Bennett's cautionary approach is reflected at the White House.

Last month the White House submitted an $11.1 billion request to Congress to help with domestic preparations against terrorist attacks, including nearly $2 billion to protect computers, utilities and other "critical infrastructure," and $1.5 billion to defend against weapons of mass destruction.

http://www1.standard.net/stories/local/04-2000/FTP0103@local@17bennett@Ogden.asp

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 17, 2000