http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/01/14/no-one-at-homeland-security-is-addressing-cyber-threats-for-government-buildings/
According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Homeland Security is totally unprepared for cyberattacks on vital government buildings and networks. There are no strategies for fending off cyber terrorists, hackers, or 35 year olds with laptops, a misplaced sense of social justice, and a little too much Mountain Dew in their systems. Ok, maybe I made that last one up, but the fact of the matter remains that the DoHS has no clue what they're doing when it comes to threats from hackers. Evidently not only are their computer networks vulnerable, but things like elevators, heating and cooling systems, and other electrical things in federal buildings are also open to cyber attacks, and no one is doing anything about it.
Admittedly making a building a little too hot or stopping an elevator isn't a great strategy if you want to cripple a country, so I don't think we're going to see hackers getting into that any time soon, but given that government social media accounts and companies like Sony have all recently been hacked by our enemies, I think that cyberattacks are definitely going to become a problem in the future. While the information age is still a baby at this point, technology has been around long enough that Homeland Security should have some idea of what they're doing. Even if it's really simple, at least it would be a plan, and they don't even have that. It's pretty pathetic.
I agree with London that Homeland Security should have some sort of plan in case of cyber attacks. Technology controls a large portion of day to day life and our overall economy. I think that they should implement a cyber attack plan especially since the country has witnessed the effects of the cyber attack on Sony earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteThis could actually be really scary. Homeland Security needs at least some sort of plan to counter cyber attacks because they have obviously become a lot more common in the past few years. A cyber attack could be detrimental to the United States if the government is not prepared for them.
ReplyDeleteI am also worried about cyberattacks. It is the one equalizer that many of our enemies (*cough *cough North Korea) are beginning utilize. No country on Earth except possibly Russia can compete the full might of the U.S. military. However, a couple of nerds with laptops could dismantle our whole system in this digital age. To help counter this threat government agencies need to do a better job of recruiting the best technological minds out of college. Too many of the top programmers and hackers are going into the private sector because it pays better. This has to change so that we can be fully protected from all threats.
ReplyDeleteP.S. This is a link about a vigilante protector of the U.S. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jester)