UMD VP for Research Attends West Point Cyber Security Conference

The United States Military Academy in West Point, New York held a conference to address the growing challenge of cybersecurity. University of Maryland Vice President for Research, Dr. Patrick O'Shea, was in attendance. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Senator of Rhode Island, gave the opening address and spoke about the need for increased public awareness of cyber threats, as well as cybersecurity issues currently facing the nation and military. In 2010, Whitehouse chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's Cybersecurity Task Force and has been actively working for cybersecurity legislation.

Whitehouse quoted Leon Panetta, the Secretary of Defense, in declaring, "[t]he next Pearl Harbor we confront could very well by a cyber attack." This, along with a few other attention-grabbing quotes and statistics, demonstrated the potentially dire financial and physical repurcussions of a cybersecurity attack.

For more information and to read the full text of the speech, visit http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/at-west-point-whitehouse-calls-for-greater-awareness-of-cyber-threats

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June 4, 2012