Tom Ridge addressed the first Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit sponsored by the East-West Institute in Dallas, Texas, telling participants, “When it comes to our readiness to protect ourselves from cyber attacks we are not prepared, we are not even close to ready.”
Cyberspace has emerged in the 21st century as a new domain along with land, air, sea and space, said Ridge, the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and former governor of Pennsylvania.
“It’s time, one might argue past time, to build the trust and establish the laws, treaties and agreements for the cyberspace domain in this 21st century,” he said. “Collective action is and must be our goal.”
More than 400 participants from 40 countries representing business and governments attended the summit to discuss the growing threats posed by cyber hackers and cyber terrorists to countries posing cyber warfare concerns.
Other speakers included: Michael Dell, Dell Computers; Howard Schmidt, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator; Patrick Pailloux, director general of France’s Network and Information Security Agency; Kamlesh Bajaj, chief executive of the Data Security Council of India.