McCain: ‘No one is immune’ to hacking

by Mark Hensch - 06/05/15 2:10 PM ET

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) argued Friday that public and private data are both vulnerable to breaches if Congress doesn’t act.

“Whether a government agency or private company, no one is immune to attacks by increasingly sophisticated adversaries,” McCain said in a statement.

“We cannot sit idly-by, accepting a situation in which persistent cyber-attacks and data insecurity are the new norm,” the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said.

{mosads}“Our top priority must be finding ways to deter our enemies from attacking in the first place and ending the ability to infiltrate, steal and disrupt with impunity.”

The Obama administration revealed Thursday that abut 4 million current and former federal employees have had their data exposed by a hack.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) admitted it was the victim of the data breach in a statement.

McCain on Friday argued the cyberattack showed the “inadequacy” of America’s current cybersecurity strategy.

He added that the U.S. could not let potential rivals like China surpass its offensive and defensive capabilities online.

“If true, this breach joins an already lengthy and well-documented record of Chinese intellectual property theft and cyber-espionage against the U.S. government and American companies,” he said of media reports that China may have conducted the hack.

McCain called on his fellow lawmakers to bolster U.S. cyber defenses by approving the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as soon as possible.

“The NDAA, which is currently being considered in the Senate, has provisions to improve deterrence and enhance the capabilities of U.S. Cyber Command to defend the United States against foreign nations and terrorist organizations,” he said.

Chinese officials Friday strongly rebuked claims that their nation had a hand in the data breach.

“It’s irresponsible and unscientific to make conjectural, trumped-up allegations without deep investigation,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, according to The Associated Press.

OPM officials said Thursday evening that digital assailants had penetrated their systems in December, four months before the breach was discovered in April.

The size and scope of the attack raises the possibility it impacted every federal agency.

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