Homeland Security beefs up to combat cyber attacks

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will hire as many as 1,000 people as computer security specialists in an effort to defend government and private online networks, Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

The plan would be a way for "recruiting the best people in the world," Napolitano last week told a Washington cyber-security forum. She said she will hire software analysts, developers and engineers to be employed by the Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies in her department.

More workers are needed due to the increasing number and complexity of cyber attacks, Philip Reitinger, deputy under secretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the department, told a Senate panel earlier this month.

Mercury News