The nation’s information technology (IT) infrastructure is “highly vulnerable to terrorist and criminal attacks,” and a White House-appointed expert panel has concluded that “the federal government needs to fundamentally improve its approach to cyber security,” according to a senior member of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). F. Thomson (Tom) Leighton, chair of PITAC’s Subcommittee on Cyber Security, told a Capitol Hill briefing on 26 July that the panel believes “federal support for fundamental research in civilian cyber security must be dramatically increased – or the nation’s security and technological edge will be seriously jeopardized.”Full Story