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                 Panetta Appeals for Stepped Up Cyber Security

   by VOA News

   U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says recent computer virus attacks
   on Persian Gulf oil and gas companies were "probably the most
   destructive cyber assault the private sector has seen."
   Panetta says the so-called "Shamoon" virus rendered more than 30,000
   computers useless when it hit the Saudi Arabian state oil company,
   ARAMCO. In some cases, the virus replaced computer files with an image
   of a burning U.S. flag.
   The defense secretary says just days after the incident occurred two
   months ago, there was a similar attack on RasGas, Qatar's second
   biggest producer of liquefied natural gas.
   Panetta commented on the attacks during a speech to business executives
   late Thursday as he appealed to them to support cyber security
   legislation that has stalled in Congress.
   He told the group the U.S. was working to aggressively fight such
   attacks, which have the potential to cause widespread U.S. damage.
   "The most destructive scenarios involve cyber actors launching several
   attacks on our critical infrastructure at one time in combination with
   a physical attack on our country.  Attackers could also seek to disable
   or degrade critical military systems and communications networks.  The
   collective results of these kinds of attacks could be a cyber Pearl
   Harbor," said Panetta.
   Panetta did not say what nation he suspected was behind the
   sophisticated Shamoon virus. However, he did say that Iran had
   "undertaken a concerted effort to use cyberspace to its advantage."
   He also said Russia and China have advanced cyber capabilities.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/panetta-appeals-for-stepped-up-cyber-
   security/1525450.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/panetta-appeals-for-stepped-up-cyber-security/1525450.html