Senators attend hacking demonstration

{mosads}Lieberman said the demonstration was meant to be enlightening, not scary.

The Homeland Security Department officials performed a second demonstration later in the morning for members of the media.

One official used a technique known as “spear fishing” to gain access to his colleague’s computer. With spear fishing, a hacker targets a computer user with an email containing an infected attachment. 

In the demonstration, the official sent an email pretending to be his colleague’s boss. The email included an attachment that appeared to be a copy of the Lieberman-Collins cybersecurity bill, but actually included malicious code.

The hacker was then able to download confidential documents from the infected computer and even activate and view video from the computer’s webcam.

The demonstrations were part of a push for the Lieberman-Collins bill, which would encourage private companies to share information about cyber threats with each other and with the government. The bill would also empower the Homeland Security Department to set minimum cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure systems, such as electrical grids and gas pipelines.

Supporters of the legislation, including the White House, say the mandatory standards are necessary to protect vital systems from attack. But many Republicans argue the mandates would unnecessarily burden businesses.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Tuesday that he plans to bring the Lieberman-Collins bill to a vote “at the earliest possible date.”

In April, the House passed its own cybersecurity bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which focuses only on voluntary information-sharing and would not mandate any security standards.