Cyber Attacks : The Threat Of Cyberterrorism

The most recents detections of how cyber warfare is inevitably coming was the accusations of Russia hacking the the Democratic National Committee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email’s releasing damaging evidence against them which ultimately lead to Donald Trump being named the President of The United States (Diamond, 2016). The effects of cyber warfare have leaked over in to televise series, forming shows such as CSI cyber, and the gaming world, Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare. Neglect regarding cyber security can: undermine the reputation of both the government and elected officials; force unacceptable expenditures associated with the cost of cleaning up after security breaches; cripple governments' abilities to respond to a wide variety of homeland security emergency situations or recover from natural or man-made threats; and disable elected officials' ability to govern (Lohrmann, 2010). Classified information such as overseas operators and attacks, missile locations, response plans and weaknesses, and much more cripples America’s ability to defend itself from enemies both foreign and domestic. To combat cyber terrorism is the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA. In an article titled “Why Cybersecurity Information Sharing Is A Positive Step for Online Security” it is discussed that under CISA, the Department of Homeland security will have more responsibility for domestic cybersecurity. CISA’s fundamental purpose is to better enable cybersecurity information to be shared between the private and public sectors (2016). The sharing of threat information between public and private sectors can give the the United States a head start by allowing them to share information rapidly and more often to combat enemy threats while still providing safety for privacy and civil

Cyber-attacks against Sony Pictures brought the vulnerabilities of poor cyber security policies to light. These attacks are nothing new but they appear to be getting more severe. According to James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, “Cyber threats to U.S. national and economic security are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication, and

The reason there has been such a huge debate over cyber security in the United States as of late is due to the slew of recent large-scale attacks that have affected a large amount

This hypothesis is based on events that have taken place within the United States. A good explanation for this hypothesis is “information technologies and defense systems that make the U.S. military so advanced are themselves targeted by hackers from China and Russia, potentially leading to increased vulnerabilities. Consequently, ongoing and persistent cyberattacks are considered a threat to U.S. national security” (Klein,2015, pg.23). This is still a problem due to the recent accusations of hacking that was conducted in the 2016 United States Presidential elections.

Tomorrow’s terrorist may be able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb (National Research Council1). The United States Department of States defined terrorism as: “…premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.” Terrorism not only occurs on the real life today but also on the internet. As the technology rapidly developed, there is an increase in the usage of internet, the threat comes along the way. Due to the occurrence of internet terrorism-generating fears to the public, the term “Cyberterrorism” was coined by Barry Collin in the 1980’s (Cyberterrorism Defined). The definition of cyberterrorism differs from various legal systems and government

In spite of all the cyber-attacks that occur on a daily basis, I believe the United States is active enough in countering these threats. Our power is supplied to us daily, for the most part our personal information is safe with companies, and we are able to trust mass transit and airports. When attacks do occur, companies and task forces are generally swift to act and can correct the issue in a matter of hours. If we lived in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to deal with these issues, but because these things exist we need to trust our great nation to keep us

The article “Defending America in Cyberspace” in the journal The National Interest authored by Keith Alexander, Emily Goldman, and Michael Warner taught me much about how the Department of Homeland Security handles America’s cyber threats. The Department of Security is the lead agency in protecting America from domestic cybersecurity incidents. It stated how America fights Cyber crime and security threats. In this day and age, countries are very vulnerable to skilled hackers. Some of them not even under the age 18.

The existence of cyberterrorism has been around since the 1980’s, but defining cyberterrorism has proven to be difficult especially within the United States. Devising a common terminology has been extremely difficult because there have been various published definitions from agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Defense (DoD), The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). Each agency has there own distinct understanding of what cyberterrorism means and because of the lack of a more unified definition, the area of cyberterrorism suffers from a limited source base to draw upon based on variables that are not so easily identified.

There is a serious threat to America's current and continued security. This threat comes from reliance on the Internet. With the openness of the Internet and the potential for anonymity, the Internet becomes an easy avenue for enemies to stage a covert attack. “Some governments, like China, have made cyber-warfare a critical part of their military doctrine, in part to help counter the advantage the U.S. has in conventional and nuclear war fighting capability. The United States is highly vulnerable to a timed, well-organized attack from another state or no state

The past 15 years the U.S. has been in a C.O.I.N. fight that has brought its own unique challenges and with our attention gathered wholly for this undertaking a new threat immerged virtually unnoticed. Cyber threats have been gaining more traction in the media as of late with several countries linked to these type of attacks, with China leading the forefront.

Cyber security is a major concern for every department, business, and citizen of the United States because technology impacts every aspect of our daily lives. The more we use technology the more complacent, we get with the information that is stored within our cyber networks. The more complacent, we get, the more vulnerable we become to cyber-attacks because we fail to update the mechanisms that safeguard our information. Breaches to security networks are detrimental to personal, economic, and national security information. Many countries, like Russia, China, Israel, France, and the United Kingdom, now have the abilities and technology to launch cyber-attacks on the United States. In the last five years there have been several attacks on cyber systems to gain access to information maintained by major businesses and the United States Government. Cyber-attacks cause serious harm to the United States’ economy, community, and the safety, so we need to build stronger cyber security mechanisms. Based on my theoretical analysis, I recommend the following:

"The next generation of terrorists will grow up in a digital world, with ever more powerful and easy-to-use hacking tools at their disposal." - Dorothy E. Denning. This is becoming more and more apparent as time goes on. You hear something new every day about some company being "hacked" by the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, or North Koreans. The world we live in is becoming more and more digitized and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the threat of cyber-terrorism is only growing with the evolving technology. Tensions have been rising rapidly largely due to the multiple cyber-attacks being waged every day against various political

Since 2010 there have been over 13 major cyber attacks in the US, the FBI categorizes the severity of the attack based on what could possibly be at stake such as information on US citizens or hijacking of critical information . Cyber attacks are classified as crimes committed with the aid of a computer. Cyber crimes are considered felonies, however most people who commit the crimes can usually not be found. Recently there has been an uprising in cyber crimes, in the year 2017 alone 9 minor incidents have occured (minor attacks can consist of malware and internet “trolling” which is a form of cyberbullying) and 4 major crimes have been committed. Most crimes consist of identity theft, robbery, and hijacking private information. Recently programmers have been able to build security systems that can detect a threat almost immediately. With a growing expansion of technology protecting information gets harder day by day. Cyber security is the body of technologies, processes and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access.

A lot of opinions and meanings has been given to the word “Cyberterrorism”. Some of these meanings and definitions varies. In this light, Gordon and Ford (2003) are concerned that when 10 people define cyberterrorism and nine of the given answers are different, and these 10 people represent different government agencies tasked with safeguarding national assets and infrastructure, then it becomes a critical issue.

The damage of a full-fledged cyber attack would be devastating, the destruction would be unparalleled to any other tragedy that has occurred America. Since technology is responsible for providing America with vital entities and resources, an unadulterated cyber attack would nearly fail the American economy; this is what is known as critical systems failure. Weapons of mass destruction and cyber attacks present imminent threats of critical systems failure. Although currently Americas’ critical infrastructures are coordinated by controlled systems, majority of these systems are indeed connected to the American cyberspace. This exposes one of America’s most vulnerable spot amidst cyber security. Another major vulnerable spot within the nations IT security would be the geographical physical location for each of Americas primary infrastructures, as well as their productivity. Due to the proximal locations, the major infrastructures could very well be infiltrated by one efficient CNA.