Homeland Security: The Fight Against Cyber Terrorism

The Pentagon has created Total Information Awareness program aimed at monitoring a wide range of civilian activity to stop terrorism (Thayil 6). With today’s technology, there is no escaping it due to the great reach over our lives it has. Little effort will be needed to activate the tools required once the program actually takes effect. With today’s technology online tracking is a simple task for the FBI. The ‘Carnivore’ program allows the FBI to search through private emails on any ISP and makes any online shopping purchases and travel bookings available to them (Thayil 22,23).

Also, the author explains these groups have found a hole in the Cyber law. Since they are not showing any signs of cyber terrorism and they have an unknown number of people the US government cannot convict them. This means that Congress has to find a way to rewrite the laws, which were written in 1986, so they can take this case to court. This article concludes by stating these hacking collectives are not a threat to the security of the US and the government should consider hiring

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

As technology advances across the globe, the potential for new types of threats arise. The DHS realized that since 1997, cyber-based attacks on federal systems have continued to increase at an alarming rate. This threatens our countries national security because cyber-based attacks are ever expanding and have continued to be one-step ahead of the DHS, until 2003.

As a growing majority of middle class families fall victim to the economic devastation of the Great Recession, suffering from prolonged unemployment, depleted job markets and a rising cost of living, the threat of potential terrorist attacks striking America and its interests seems to have faded into the proverbial background of our collective consciousness. With a transfer of power from the hawkish Bush Administration to President Obama and his more diplomatic approach, major media outlets in print, on television and in the blogosphere, which just a few years ago regaled with patriotic fervor while espousing the possible peril awaiting the nation, have all but abandoned their coverage of terrorist activity. This reversal in focus by both individuals and institutions may simply be a natural response to the reduced capabilities of al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks, as confirmed by the leading authority on terrorism and its effects, and national security analyst for the CNN network, Peter Bergen, who observed recently that "the Obama administration has played a large role in reducing terrorist threats by continuing and scaling up many of former President George W. Bush's counter-terrorist methods" (Bennetch 1).

This specific section of the executive order calls for consultation with potentially affected communities purposely identifying legal, auditing, financial, and insurance communities as industries with which to consult. Additionally, the executive order also establishes a directive that the Board shall coordinate with the senior liaison officers of the Attorney General, the Secretaries of Energy, Commerce, Transportation, the Treasury, and Health and Human Services, and the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Additionally, the Board shall work in coordination with the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office and the national Institute of Infrastructure Assurance Office and the national Institute of Standards and Technology of the Department of Commerce, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, and the National Communications System (The White House). This indicates the large amount of actors impacted by information security infrastructure. This author finds it compelling that departments and agencies specifically related to homeland security and protection such as the FBI, CIA, and Department of Homeland Security. In fact, throughout the Executive Order the Department of Justice is mentioned in incident coordination and crisis response and law enforcement coordination; however, the Secret Service is specifically mentioned. It appears there is a large emphasis on coordination between executive agencies. However, the Board’s Coordination committee includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (The White

As an agency like Department of Homeland Security or Federal Bureau of Investigation, they make such efforts to assure to protect the homeland and the United States citizens. "Homeland security decision makers should avoid bloated solutions and examine constantly old security measure to avoid petrifaction" (Neito-Gomez, 2011). Department of Homeland Security needs always to stay on top of the game; it is important to have eyes and ears everywhere. Technologies have been taking such a major part in defending security, and that is why Department of Homeland Security needs to have the most updated technologies and Intel to assist for the safety defense.

To improve our readiness to combat and battle these threats. In Seattle,there are secure fiber networks being put together to interlink the government and emergency operations. Not only Seattle but many other cities and countries have invested local funds in creating new 911 centers and emergency operation ceters. Worried about these attacks and threats the United States have “hardened” the control networks that manage electricity and water grids. The entire field of cyber security and information technology has a new way of confronting not only terrorist threats but all of the ongoing issues created by hackers and identity thieves. Knowing if America is safer now than in 2001, especially since Bin Laden's death ,the United States will not know. But in not knowing, where, how, or when a threat could be more than just that the United States has become more vigilant and more prepared (Proud To

Government services are a frequent target of cyber terrorism. The Israeli-Middle East conflict for instance shows numerous cases where cyber warfare is just as damaging as conventional means. Palestinian and Hezbollah hackers have been known to frequently attack Israeli infrastructure, often compromising government, military, and media sites. For its part, Israel has been known to hack its enemies in the Middle East, most notably Iran (XX). However, cyber terrorism is not the only means by which Canada's cyber security can be compromised. State-sponsored attacks also bring a great deal of damage, and in many cases, are better organized and funded

has aided the NSA and FBI in identifying and intercepting terrorist plots in the past. Following

The Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. is mandated to deal with terrorism problem that has a long history in the U.S. Terrorism has been a threat to U.S. security since the 1800. Terrorists continue to use powerful secret communication strategies and unexpected tools to achieve their intention in the U.S. soil. For example, the 9/11 terrorism attack that killed the highest number of American citizens in history succeeded because terrorist used hijacked passenger planes to perform the attack (Lutz and Lutz, 2013). Although the most notorious terrorism activity in the U.S. soil was performed by Islamic extremist, several other groups among them black militancy, anti-liberal, anti-government, Jewish extremist, fascist extremists, and Palestinian militancy among others have been reportedly caused a terrorist activity in the U.S. in the past and their continued existence still remain a major threat to the U.S. security (Lutz and Lutz, 2013). The counter-terrorism policy administered through the Bureau of Counterterrorism aims at partnering with local security agents, multilateral organizations, non-state actors and foreign governments to defeat local and global terrorism. The policy employs high level of coordinated strategies in securing international partnership to document and monitor and act appropriately to Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) as emerging organizations that coordinate international terrorist

In the years since 9/11, homeland security has turn out to be frequently and generally identified as both a word and as a Federal department. However, a large amount has been learned since 9/11 concerning the array of further challenges we face. Hurricane Katrina strongly illustrates the general impact of weak preparedness and response in the face of severe natural disasters. Widespread international cyber attacks from some of the most sophisticated denial-of-service efforts to persistent and rising attacks on U.S. Government cyber systems reflect the increasing

Another thing that Homeland security uses computers for is vigilance. This is probably the most used area for computers in homeland security This technology caused quite a bit of changes with homeland security. These changes were mostly good ones. They have helped made the job easier for security since they now provide insight to things that people used to dream of. In many ways this will help homeland security protect our nation against possible terrorist attacks. In Source A, Shribman states that “Until Sept. 12, 2001, Americans gave little thought to the clash of freedom and security, because the pressure against freedom came mostly from barriers involving race…” He was meaning that nobody cared about the privacy being provoked because the only people were being violated was African American people which at that time they were heavily

Secretary Johnson, this memo is being addressed to you on the basis that the foreign policy issue that is threats to cyber security is of interest to the Department of Homeland Security. In brief explanation of the issue at hand, it can be concluded that the major foreign policy problem of cyber security threats has created and will continue to create imitate danger to the United States of America. The act of breaching the security sustained around private networks has become renowned as a type of terrorism, one that has rapidly evolved since the beginning of the 21st century and has gained even more strength with the increased use of computers. This threat has the potential to risk the exposure of the nation’s most valuable information including government documents, military plans that are considered top secret, and even the United States power grid. The convenience and the ease of use has made this threat greater as individuals conducting what has become known as cyber attacks can be thousands of miles away from the network they hack into. In order for this threat to be combated efficiently, a brief history based around the issue must be conducted as well as an examination of possible alternatives before concluding with the best proposed solution that will bring this threat under control and ultimately aim to eliminate it.

laws that established the Department of Homeland Security is the Implementing Recommendations of the 9-11 Commission Act of 2007or Public Law 110-53(dhs.com, 2016). This law addresses a wide range of the Department’s missions, including cargo security, critical infrastructure protection, grant administration, intelligence and information sharing, privacy, and transportation security(dhs.com, 2016). There are at least three or more HSPDs that are closely related with this law. I chose HSPD 3 Homeland Advisory System which implements a Homeland Security Advisory System to provide a comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people(Bush, 2001). HSPD 7 Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection which was rescinded by PPD 21 Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience which addresses changes and revisions to critical infrastructure and key resources and in includes cyber security. With this specific HSPD I also include EO 13636 since it provides specific guidance, actions, responsibilities to the cabinet secretaries and directors of specified agencies to improve the security and resilience of the critical infrastructure cyber systems.(Bush, 2001). Another HSPD that I have found that relates to this law is HPSD 13 because its purpose is to protect U.S. population centers, critical infrastructures,