Hackers Will Replace Terrorists as Top Threat, Says FBI

Could Anonymous be the next al-Qaeda?
FBI Director Robert Mueller warned a group of cybersecurity experts on Thursday that online attacks will replace terrorism as the most serious threat facing the U.S., according to The Associated Press.
Mueller pressed private businesses and Internet security firms to secure American digital infrastructure from rogue hackers and attacks sponsored by foreign governments.
“We are losing data, we are losing money, we are losing ideas and we are losing innovation,” Mueller said at the RSA Digital Security Conference in San Francisco. “Together we must find a way to stop the bleeding.”
Counterterrorism is still the FBI’s top priority, but the agency is working to better equip itself against online attacks. Trained cyber defense divisions are now in every FBI field office. They’re watching for all kinds of digital crimes — such as mortgage fraud, terrorist recruitment drives and Internet attacks.

Mueller isn’t the only government official making such warnings. The FCC chairman recently highlighted the threat of cyberattacks. The U.S. Senate is also debating the proper approach to combating cybercrime.
Two competing bills both call for beefing up the security of government networks and increasing the amount of cybersecurity information-sharing done between government and private businesses.
The bills differ, however, on whether or not the Department of Homeland Security should be allowed to set cybersecurity standards which private companies must meet. A bill sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), gives that power to the DHS, while the other bill, backed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and five other Republican senators, does not.