Janet Napolitano Uses Sandy to Stoke Fears of Cyberattack

What would DHS do if they weren't encouraging people to be in constant fear?

No natural disaster in the last several years has passed without a government official or civilian "expert" using it to raise fears of cyber threats. That is why, after a series of snarky tweets over the last couple days by Rob Rosenberger, I was inspired to create a Google alert for any news item mentioning both the words "cyber" and "Sandy" in the same article.

I created the alert this morning and waited. How long would it be before someone exploited this disaster to promote cyber fear? And who would do such a thing?

This evening I got my answer. Less than twelve hours after creating the alert and in the midst of a still-unfolding crisis, it was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, who, as far as I can tell, gets the honor of being the first to use Sandy to stoke cyber fears.

(Hat tip to Cato Institute's Julian Sanchez)