Ex-FBI chief Louis Freeh warns of cyber threats

United States intelligence officials must do a better job analyzing the mountains of global Internet, telephone and financial data they already collect to thwart the cyber terrorists of tomorrow, according to former FBI director Louis Freeh.

Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of the Global Intelligence Forum in Ireland, Freeh said hackers seeking to take control of, or take down, key pieces of U.S. infrastructure could do more damage than the attackers of 9/11. He said computer systems controlling power plants, the navigation of aircraft and ships, and even the switching of street lights could be hijacked to gridlock societies and kill large groups of people. “People traditionally think of this threat as somebody stealing their identity or their credit card number, or making it inconvenient to go to the ATM [cash machine]. That’s a very benign view of the potential for what cyber terrorism really is,” Freeh said. “You could manipulate transportation systems, aviation guidance systems, highway safety systems, maritime operations systems. You could shut down an energy system in the northeast U.S. in the middle of winter. The potential for mass destruction in terms of life and property is really only limited by [the attackers’] access and success in penetrating and hijacking these networks,” he said.