Federal Report Warns US is Unready For a Cyberattack

The U.S. should take a slew of steps today to prevent a major cyberattack that could wreak wide-scale devastation on the U.S., a year-long study mandated by Congress reported Wednesday. From a report: “A major cyberattack on the nation’s critical infrastructure and economic system would create chaos and lasting damage exceeding that wreaked by fires in California, floods in the Midwest, and hurricanes in the Southeast,” the report predicts. What they’re saying: “This is like doing the 9/11 Commission before 9/11 happens. We want to avoid that situation,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), a co-chair of the panel, said at an Axios event Monday. At the same event, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), the other co-chair, said the U.S. does not currently have an effective deterrence policy in place to discourage hostile cyberattacks. “We are getting killed by a thousand cuts,” he said.