Protecting businesses from cyber attacks

Long Island's business and technology leaders began an effort Tuesday to start a new industry here that would focus on protecting companies, government agencies and individuals from cyber attacks that have been increasingly causing chaos in the financial world and other industries.

More than 100 business people, educators and government officials crowded into an auditorium at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage for speeches, a panel discussion and explanations of government aid programs dealing with cyber security. The event was organized by LIFT -- the Long Island Forum for Technology -- and LISTnet, the private technology organization.

The keynote speaker, former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden, said that in terms of foreign cyber attacks against the U.S. government, China "is at the top of the list."

Cyber analysts say hackers in China were responsible for two sophisticated attacks in 2010 against Google's systems which stole some of the Internet search company's program code.

China said in August that it was raising penalties for those caught buying, selling or covering up illegally obtained data.

Hayden, a retired Air Force four-star general who was CIA director from 2006 until he stepped down in 2009, told the audience that "the private sector is going to play a bigger role" than government in protecting against cyber attacks.

Part of the reason, he said, is government budget cuts. The other, he said, is Americans' general reluctance to give government broad control for a long period of time over Internet activities. There will be opportunities, Hayden said, for companies in the fight against cyber attacks.

Paul Schneider, a former deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security, said in answer to a question that companies that have been most successful securing government contracts have been those that "partnered up" with other businesses.

And that is what LIFT is seeking to have Long Island companies do. LIFT president Frank Otto, at the end of the day, asked the gathering, "Where do we go from here?"

He said LIFT is organizing companies that want to build equipment for the railroad industry, and that the same could be done for the cyber world. LIFT handed out questionnaires asking those in attendance if they want to meet on the subject again.

"Are you interested in coming to another meeting?" he asked.