The United States is well behind the curve in the fight against computer criminals, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Friday, as Homeland Security officials opened a $9 million operations center to better coordinate IT security. Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said legislation being drafted by his committee will require federal agencies and private IT companies to set up a system to share information on cyber threats. And Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, said the Homeland Security Department must identify weaknesses in the softwares that run power plants and other critical infrastructure. Standing in front of a wall of broad video screens, that displayed vivid charts and maps of possible cyber threats and suspicious internet traffic, Napolitano said the watch center will allow the high-tech teams that monitor government networks to work better together.
