At security conference, Napolitano urges enhancing cybersecurity

On the day before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was in Philadelphia to address a convention of security professionals.

Napolitano’s keynote speech focused on the growing threat to the nation’s cybersecurity.

 

It was an encore performance for Napolitano, who spoke at the ASIS International annual seminar last year.

She told luncheon attendees that her 2011 speech focused on countering violent extremism and strengthening information sharing within the security industry.

“But today, on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, I want to discuss an issue that demands our urgent and sustained attention,” Napolitano said. “It is one of the most serious and rapidly evolving threats we face. And that is the threat to our cyber infrastructure.”

Napolitano touted recent federal investments in fighting cyber crime to some of the 20,000 security professionals in attendance.

She says the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber division has grown by more than 600 percent in the last four years.

Napolitano urged better collaboration between government and the private sector, calling threats to cybersecurity, “potentially the most threatening area of risk that we all confront today.”