US industries: We take cybersecurity seriously

But Representative Bart Gordon, a Tennessee Democrat, told Purdy that the DHS efforts were "simply not good enough." Gordon referred to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, released in May, saying DHS had not yet developed national cyber threat assessments or government and industry contingency recovery plans. Purdy promised a recovery plan document soon and a risk assessment by early next year.

"The disruptions and economic damages that could result from a successful cyberattack to one or more of our critical infrastructures could be substantial," Gordon said. "And damage to water supply systems or chemical processing plants, for example, could also create life-threatening consequences."

While many large companies now realize the importance of cybersecurity, implementation is often lacking, panelists said. Many companies are afraid to share their cybersecurity threat data with DHS for fear of it being released as a public document, Freese said.

Companies also need to more narrowly focus on the most important risk factors, added David Kepler, vice president of shared services and chief information officer at The Dow Chemical Co. "You can work on everything, and not be effective at anything," he said.

Technology companies also need to work on creating more secure products, with security built-in instead of added on later, added Andrew Geisse, chief information officer at SBC. He gave cellular telephones and Wi-Fi as examples of technologies where security was an "afterthought."

As the industry representatives offered advice for better cybersecurity, Boehlert complained that Supreme Court nomination hearings in the Senate attracted hundreds of journalists, while his hearing room had plenty of seats available. He asked the industry representatives to enlist their lobbying organizations in educating the rest of Congress about the importance of cybersecurity.

"We've got to focus on the importance of this subject," he said. 'In most quarters, it's greeted with a muffled yawn. And yet you know, and you're sharing with us, how important this is, and its potential impact on the entire economy."