American Cyber Security Needs a Boost
Every day, federal agencies are attacked by foreign threats who are trying to achieve access to documents and files that, under any other circumstance, is highly classified. Instead of coming into the actual buildings and trying to steal documents and files, foreign threats are, from the comfort of their own bedroom, hacking into government agencies and getting access to important information that, quite frankly, they shouldn’t be getting their hands on. The ultimate cause of this is that the Internet and World Wide Web have grown far faster than the government’s ability to keep up.
American cyber security needs a great boost in order to protect against these continuous threats against American information. Fortunately, President Obama realized the need to amp up cyber security and is appointing Howard Schmidt to be the person responsible for bridging divides between different agencies that all have their own attempts at cyber security. More importantly, Howard Schmidt is going to have direct access to the President which demonstrates just how important cyber security is in the future of homeland security.
Each individual department (Pentagon, CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, etc.) should all have to answer to this one coordinator when it comes to their cyber security because his experience makes him the most qualified to aid them in developing strong, long lasting defenses against these foreign threats at our computers.
The unfortunate truth is that, while conventional armies can do tremendous damage to a country, it is the single, incredibly skilled hacker that can get into a government agency and start messing with protocol. Because more of our military capabilities are becoming networked, a hacker can get in and cause serious problems.
A prime example of this happening is a recent report that was released that described how Iraqi insurgents were able to hack into Predator drones. While no harm was done to any servicemen and the insurgents were unable to control the drones, it demonstrates that, if these insurgents were to develop an understanding of the programming more, could they take control of the predator drone? Would they be able to take it out of Air Force hands and begin using it themselves against our servicemen? I’m not an expert on Predators; however, I understand electronics enough that anyone can get control of something if they want.
Because of this, it is imperative that the United States boost their cyber security and develop a strong defense against hackers trying to gain control of our military machinery, but also access to our different departments, railroads, water and electric companies, and other utilities that would weaken our country if they were knocked out. What Schmidt could bring is an understanding, from the private world, on how to really develop a strong defense against hacking. Hackers will always get through, but if you’re up to date and innovative on techniques to protect your hardware, they have a smaller chance of succeeding.
We’re in the 21st century. We can pay bills online, purchase things online, control aircraft from eight thousand miles away, and keep top secret documents in hard drives without ever having to print them out. However, while this age of ease is upon us, we can’t get lax and not appreciate the fact that as we develop, anyone that would want to do harm to us will develop as well. President Obama’s push to hire a new coordinator of cyber security. It’s a start and one that will hopefully develop into a very successful attempt at protecting American interests.
I myself, don’t understand Predator Drones either, but I do have a degree as a computer tech, along with a couple of certifications, and I’ll definitely stand by your conclusion that if something is accessible via network, it’s only a matter of knowledge to gain partial control, and if that network is wireless, remote access allows the hacker to gain control from a separate location.
In my opinion, the Predator Drones could be amazing in a LITERAL world war of some sort, one on a larger scale than our current engagements. But in our current situation, and using them the way that we seem to be, using them takes away a majority of the human element that should be a part of any war. The ability to annihilate the enemy and never set sight to a drop of blood seems to be a quick path towards a power trip.
These Drones will just make it simpler, in the end, to separate ourselves from our involvement in the war as well as the negative aspects of it.
To separate ourselves from these negative aspects just sets the stage for more unneeded and unnecessary war…in my opinion of course…
I’m actually quite positive that security protecting much of our national “knowledge,” including access to railways, airplane towers and runways, cell phone networks…you name it…is in no way going to keep out those who want in, whom have the skills. Period.
Hackers will ALWAYS be 2 steps ahead of the mainstream.
The answer is……..don’t network precious intelligence. Because if someone wants to hack it, they probably can.
Unfortunately, I only see our national defense systems, in the future, becoming fully networked to the point of even being able to act on it’s own in the event of a missle attack. It could come in handy, but also could be used against us by a talented hacker.
My primary issue with drones is that they are so basic. Man sees target, man launches missile. While I like the idea of the drones being able to take out targets, they are so basic and they do kill a lot of innocents, so it leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth about using them.
You brought up a point about them being used in a big world war. There’s a book I’d suggest for you to read called The Pentagon’s New Map by Thomas P.M. Barnett. According to his analysis, there will never be another big world war or near peer war. Since reading it, my opinions on war and globalization have done a complete 180.