The Senate Homeland Security committee is considering legislation to force private sector companies to report cyber attacks that threaten critical infrastructure. Alarmed by the recent Stuxnet bug, Senator Joseph Lieberman is asking Homeland Security officials whether they need more authority to gather reports from the private sector. Stuxnet is aimed at certain industrial control systems. Such attacks have the potential to cause shutdowns or damage to facilities such as pipelines, refineries, and nuclear power plants. Sean McGurk, head of the cybersecurity operations center, told the panel, DHS can ask for reports. But it has no authority to require them.

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