KEY HIGHLIGHTS
U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has warned US that it faced by large scale cyber attack that could debilitate the country’s infrastructure.
The Spy Master while addressing the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday 10th September 2015 indicated that Cyber threats to US national and economic security is increasing in scale, frequency and sophistication.
“In my 50-plus years in the intelligence business, I don’t recall a time when we’ve been beset by a greater variety of challenges and risks around the world, both regionally and functionally,” he said.
Intelligence director acknowledged the rising concerns of low to moderate level cyber crimes orchestrated by variety of hackers threatening US economic competitiveness and to national security.
The intelligence chief told the US lawmakers that cyber espionage has been on the increase in part as hackers face little or no punishment calling for stiffer laws to be enacted as a matter of urgency.
ASSESSMENT: HIGH PROFILE HACKS
Clapper specifically referred to China as one of the most active sources of espionage targeting a “broad spectrum of U.S. interests.”
China is an advanced cyber actor in terms of sophistication and capabilities. Chinese hackers are often able to gain access to their targets without having to resort to using advanced capabilities.
However, Russia, Iran and North Korea also pose risks because of their aggressive and unpredictable regimes.
Recently U.S. and China have been on the loggerheads with US allegedly accusing China of being behind the recently-revealed hack of federal personnel information, compromised personal data of some 22 million current and former US government employees though Beijing downplayed the accusations as hypocritical.
The United States is considering imposing sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals it believes are related to the hacking of US trade secrets.
According to National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers non-state actors as well as terrorist groups also pose significant security risks as they heavily rely on Web as a weapons system.
SUMMARY & FORECAST
Cyber hacking is likely to grow in both frequency and Sophistication thus the veracity impact of the outcomes will be severe.
On his part the FBI Director cautioned the spread of social media citing it present new security risks.
The Director cited extremist groups and the “considerable success” they have by using social media to recruit, raise funds and spread online propaganda.
Social media companies have been highly responsive in trying to take down media accounts that have been offensive and related to a terrorist group. But the challenge of social media remains the most complicated spiderweb in the world.”
