Annesh Chopra, the federal government's first chief technology officer, has his work cut out for him. His top priority is to make sure American companies protect themselves against cyberattacks, and to do that, he needs to be involved in locking down data both inside and outside the government. He recently sat down with TheStreet.com to outline his top priorities.

And he warned that one of the biggest dangers for U.S. companies is their own lax security.

"I am not sure that it will be a denial of service attack--as much as it will be sloppy software implementation that has left holes for hacking," he told TheStreet.com, adding that companies also need to protect against disgruntled workers. "The threats to me are broader than what gets visibility in the news today."

There have already been a number of attacks that should be raising concerns in both the government and the private sectors, including a recent attack that brought down Twitter, but that's not Chopra's biggest concern.

"Whether or not we have lost Twitter for a few hours is challenging for the country, but it doesn't keep me up at night," Chopra said. "What keeps me awake at night would be an attack on our critical private sector infrastructure--the healthcare sector, the banking sector, the energy sector."

For more on Chopra's agenda:
- check out TheStreet.com article

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