Cyber-Attacks Are The New Cold War
The Invisible Enemy
Earlier this month President Obama declared foreign cyber-threats a “national emergency”. During the State of the Union address, he said that “if the US government does not improve cyber defenses, we leave our nation and our economy vulnerable”. This past weekend the TV program 60 Minutes ran a special on cyber security, particularly pertaining to the importance of our nation’s satellite systems.
In the April issue of CIO Magazine, the President and CEO of IDG Communications wrote an article about cybersecurity, stating “significant data breaches at Anthem, Sony, Home Depot, eBay, JPMorgan Chase, Target and many more have caused headline-grabbing business upheavals that worry customers, affect profit margins, and derail corporate careers”. It seems there are now daily news articles about sinister cyber-activity.
Cyber-threats or crimes can be orchestrated in various ways. Targets can be aimed at critical infrastructure, manufacturing, power grids, or water supplies. They could be aimed at disrupting the availability of websites and networks, or at stealing trade secrets and financial information. Others could be driven by espionage, vandalism, terrorism, sabotage, or any form of criminality. Activities of the US and British governments have focused on surveillance and hacking of telecommunications.
It is difficult to fight cyber-activity, because the enemy is often invisible and their home address typically unclear. Building defenses are challenging while continuous ‘patchwork’ is a deficient solution. Threats morph and change quickly. For corporations many threats are internal and could come from rogue employees or from senior managers with weak passwords who have access to sensitive files. Some companies are now even looking into having retaliatory capabilities.
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