“Members of Congress expressed frustration Wednesday over the exploding problems caused by malicious worms and viruses and asked whether additional laws and criminal prosecutions are necessary to protect the public,” Declan McCullagh for CNET News.com.

McCullagh reports, “Rep. Adam Putnam, the chairman of a House subcommittee that oversees government use of technology, suggested at a hearing that the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI are not doing enough to identify and prosecute those responsible for the havoc caused by viruses such as the MSBlast worm, also known as Blaster and Lovsan.”

“‘There are hundreds of viruses released every year…but you can only recall two arrests, two convictions, two jail times?’ Putnam asked a Justice Department official. ‘Now I ask, ‘What’s the source of the threat? Is it foreign or domestic?’ Well, we really don’t know,’” McCullagh reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Congress should be asking whether homogenous or heterogenous platform environments are a better choice for safety and minimizing disruptions. Congress should also be examining what it is about Windows that makes it susceptible to viruses and worms along with finding and prosecuting virus writers. We would also suggest that Congress examine why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded a five-year, $90 million enterprise agreement to Microsoft Corp to become the department’s primary technology provider (more info) when two weeks later, the same U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Windows was vulnerable to attack (more info).

Readers interesting in offering their suggestions to Rep. Adam Putnam, the chairman of a House subcommittee that oversees government use of technology can send a message to him via his website.