Secret state computer center urged

Legislators are warned that terrorist hackers could threaten the state's infrastructure.

By JULIE HAUSERMAN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 27, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida needs to set up a secret command center with computer banks so the state can prevent a "digital Pearl Harbor," the state's top computer security expert told lawmakers Friday.

Taxpayers will pay for the center, but nobody in the public will get to know where it is.

Scott McPherson, the man who prepared the state's computer system for Y2K, says simultaneous "cyber attacks" could cripple Florida's utilities, phone systems, airports, and seaports. The state, he says, needs a coordinated approach to track the attacks if they occur.

Just last month, McPherson said, a hacker gained access to the computer system that controls electricity in California. Fortunately, the system wasn't hooked up to California's power grid at the time.

McPherson, of the state's office of technology, was one of several speakers who outlined possible terrorist threats in front of a new legislative committee on public security. The joint legislative committee was formed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

McPherson said America faces a threat from hackers inside our borders -- he called them "hacktivists" -- who know how to disable computer networks.

"We're not just talking about defacing a Web site," McPherson said. "We're talking about the disruption of e-commerce."

McPherson offered a chilling scenario:

"Imagine if (the computer system at) a utility in North Florida were deliberately attacked, and a utility on the West Coast, down near Tampa, were attacked. We might not know the two things were related. When these attacks occur, we need immediate information."

McPherson said Florida should collect security information from private firms all over the state, including electric utilities, banks, and phone companies. The state would keep the information secret, he said.

McPherson wouldn't divulge the state's plans for the central computer security center. He said the state has a site picked out, but wouldn't say where it is.

The public security committee didn't discuss the proposal in detail. On Monday, the committee meets again to consider some 20 bills related to terrorism, including measures to close public records, detain suspects and expand government wiretapping.

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