Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Thursday that his department will work as hard to address threats to the Internet as it does to address physical threats. “We will not distinguish between physical and cyber in this new unit,” Ridge told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee in a hearing on the fiscal 2004 budget. “We will pay as much attention to the Internet as we do physical.” Ridge said that he understands a cyber attack could affect every aspect of the U.S. economy and government and that preventing such an attack is “at the very heart” of his department’s duties. He also said that since last month, the department has been “actively engaged” in talks about the nation’s cyber infrastructure with the private sector and other groups “because they have their own list of what the vulnerabilities are.” Full Story