Tech Titan Warns U.S. is ‘Woefully’ Unprepared for Cyberattack

Cyberattacks are a looming threat for which the United States is woefully unprepared, tech titan Eric Hippeau warned FOX Business Network’s Liz Claman.

“We have antiquated computer systems. We have norms that need to be updated. We’ve got hundreds of thousands of employees who basically don’t have the basic safeguards,” he said.

Hippeau, Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures, said an executive order from President Donald Trump won’t solve the nation’s cyber security problems and more concrete measures are needed to protect the nation.

On Tuesday, Trump met with cyber security leaders at the White House, and tapped former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as an informal adviser on cybersecurity.

“We must protect federal networks and data,” President Trump said. “We operate these networks on behalf of the American people and they are very important.”

Several government agencies in recent years have been hacked or have experienced attempted break-ins.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suffered a massive data breach in 2015 affecting 21 million people whose personal data may have been stolen. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was hacked in February 2016 where an estimated 700K social security numbers were stolen.

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Hippeau, a former Yahoo (NASDAQ:YAHOO) board member, said the Trump administration must thoroughly scan every critical system controlled by the U.S. government and cooperate with the private sector to fend off cyber threats.

“A lot of the research, a lot of the new measures, a lot of the technology that is coming here to protect us, comes from the private sector and the tech industry,” Hippeau said on FOX Business Network’s Countdown to the Closing Bell.

Hippeau said despite the numerous cyberattacks against government agencies, the Obama administration did not do enough to prepare for the next attack.

“You constantly have to be aware that you can at any moment be under attack. You cannot fall asleep at the switch. You have to investments, people, the best technology,” he said.