Coming in November: CyberStorm

The Department of Homeland Security is planning a "major cybersecurity preparedness
and response exercise"  for November. The exercise, dubbed "Cyberstorm" was mentioned during congressional testimony earlier this week. During the hearing, government investigator David Powner told a Senate subcommittee that the DHS needs to develop a "recovery plan for widespread attack on the Internet" and also needs "stable leadership in cybersecurity."

"Until DHS addresses its many challenges ... it cannot function as a cybersecurity focal point for coordinating federal law and policy," said Powner, head of IT management for the Government Accountability Office.  "The result is an increased risk, and large portions of our critical infrastructure are unprepared to effectively handle a cybersecurity attack."

Andy Purdy, acting director of the DHS National Cyber Security Division, said the DHS Internet Disruption Working Group is working on a recovery plan in the event of a major Internet attack, and is pursuing other efforts, including the Cyber Storm project, a push for greater use of IPv6, which is a more secure version of the current Internet Protocol. The plan to create the position of assistant secretary for cyber and telecommunications security should also help in speeding up cybersecurity efforts, he said.