Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last week, we learned that global meat processing company JBS, one of the four meatpacking companies responsible for more than 80 percent of beef processing operations, had suffered a ransomeware attack. The attack temporarily shuttered the company's U.S. beef plants, threatening the beef supply and leaving ranchers wondering once again whether they would be able to sell their cattle. The JBS attack highlights two important issues. The first is cyber security. The rise of ransomeware attacks on critical industries and infrastructure represents a serious threat. Less than a month before the ransomeware attack on meatpacking, ransomeware criminals hacked the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies gasoline and jet fuel to the east coast. The Colonial attack caused fuel shortages and drove up gas prices, with many consumers facing gas station lines that hearkened back to the oil crisis of the 1970s. In today's society, where almost everything we do has a cyber component, ransomeware and other malicious cyber attacks carry the potential to seriously disrupt our way of life. Cyber security needs to be one of our top priorities. Private companies need to invest in cyber security, to keep their systems and customer data secure, and the Federal Government has to invest in it as a matter of national security. We can't afford to let hostile individuals or hostile governments hack key government databases or functions.…”