Computer attack on Iran nuclear program adds urgency to cybersecurity efforts

The revelation that the United States used a computer virus to damage Iranian nuclear facilities has added urgency to a push in Congress for cybersecurity legislation.

Top administration officials, such as National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, have long argued that the nation is at risk of suffering a devastating cyber attack. "We now know why they were making those predictions," said Noah Shachtman, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor to Wired magazine. "They were talking about themselves—not what some outside opponent could do to us, but what we were doing to others." "The U.S. has basically endorsed the use of these things publicly, and that does change the game," Shachtman said. Paul Wolfowitz, a former Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Bush, said he hopes the news of the attack would "put some added urgency" on Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation. "Maybe it will raise awareness," Wolfowitz said. "I hope we don't have to wait for the cyber-equivalent of 9/11 before people realize that we're vulnerable."