Richard A. Clarke

Chairman of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and special advisor to the president for cybersecurity.

Clarke was appointed by President Clinton as the first National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism in May 1998.

He began federal service in 1973 in the office of the Secretary of Defense.

Clarke is a graduate of the Boston Latin School, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Clarke became well-known for his use of the phrase "electronic Pearl Harbor," when predicting the implications of a cyber-terrorist attack. Critics say he overstates the threat, perhaps as a tactic to win greater attention, support and resources for government computer defense capabilities.

I read somewhere something about how normal power outages are a much greater concern to infrastructure than coordinated malicious hackers are, and how they have never caused denial of service from a utility provider. Just web pages, and usually not for very long, because all they have to do is reload a known good copy once they realize it has been defaced (and of course, they need to then patch the security hole).


node what you don't know

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