Homeland Security: The Fight Against Cyber Terrorism

The United States of America is one of the most powerful countries in the world, and there are a full spectrum of threats that come from every single direction. The United States Department of Homeland Security is just one entity of the United States to ensure that the country is protected. In doing so, the Department of Homeland Security has a Cyber Security Division with a Mission to “contribute to enhancing the security and resilience of the nation’s critical information infrastructure and the Internet by (1) developing and delivering new technologies, tools and techniques to enable DHS and the U.S. to defend, mitigate and secure current

The intelligence community itself has made a major shift of how it operates, what are its priorities and its ability to protect the nation in the entry of the 21st century. The attacks on 9/11 greatly changed the way we see the world now and has shown major flaws within the intelligence community. Those events led the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and with it pooled federal agencies into in umbrella for it to be centralized in order to be effective. There are three categories in which the Homeland Security Intelligence face in the 21st century. Those categories are technological, political, and cyber security.

In 1997 the National Security Agency (NSA) tested the Pentagon’s cyber security in an exercise named “Eligible Receiver”. Within two days of the exercise, the NSA team had penetrated the classified command network and was in complete control of network. Two years later, the United States Air Force experienced a computer breach in which huge amounts of data were being exfiltrated from research files located on airbases. “Gigantic amounts of data were being shipped out from a lot of computers in the Defense Network and from many data systems in the national nuclear laboratories of the Energy Department.” (Clarke, p. 111) File case named “Moonlight Maze”, by the FBI day-lighted two important aspects of information security. Computer specialist

The 9/11 attacks on US soil changed the perception that people had about internet privacy. The attention was on consumer privacy issues resulting from commercial website operators using information gained from the use of various sites (Mathews and Catherine). However, following the attack, there was a need for the Congress to ensure that FBI can use a software program known as DCS 1000. It is important to note

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

Over the last several years, cyber attacks have been continually rising. This is in response to emerging threats from rogue nations and terrorist groups. They are increasing their attacks on government, military and civilian installations. According to James Clapper (the Director of National Intelligence) these threats have become so severe. It is surpassing terrorism as the greatest challenge facing the nation. In response, the National Security Agency (NSA) began conducting surveillance on those who are involved in these activities and others which are threat to US national security interests. This program became so broad; it started continually collecting phone records and emails on ordinary Americans. This angered many, who felt that the US was acting in a way that circumvented established legal guidelines and procedures. To fully understand what is taking place requires focusing on the event, the government 's response and the ways it did / did not meet our national security goals. Together, these different elements will illustrate what occurred and the lasting impacts on everyone. (Greenwald 2014)

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.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) enforces federal laws, those created by Congress which apply to everyone nationwide. One area of law which they enforce is cyber terrorism, which involves crimes of terrorism that occur electronically. These crimes occur against individuals, businesses, organizations, and against the government itself. Cyberterrorism is the use of the Internet to conduct violent acts that result in or threaten the loss of life or significant bodily harm in order to achieve political gains through intimidation. It is also sometimes considered the act of Internet terrorism in terrorist activities, including acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the

235). The war on terrorism is not always fought by conventional means. Law enforcement at all levels of the government faces other terrorist forms of attacks such as cyber warfare. Cyber warfare or cyber terrorism can greatly damage our government; therefore, the intelligence community and law enforcement should partner up to find methods in preventing, preparing for, and responding to cyber-attacks. We must not forget the importance of communities and building positive rapport with them, because they are our eyes and ears towards combating foreign and domestic

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.

With the widespread use of technology becoming more prominent, acts of cyber terrorism pose an increased threat to safety. Cyber terrorists exploit the internet and its users to commit acts that can be increasingly detrimental to their targets. Some of the terrorist activities include large scale corruption of computer networks by using tools like computer viruses. Certain individuals even have the ability of creating severe damage to government systems, national security systems and even hospital servers. Most of the technology made today only has intentions of making life easier for people. However, skilled users can manipulate the cyber world for negative intentions. Staying informed when it comes to cyber terrorism and cybercrime is important to do because of the increased reliance on technology in society. Steps to improve cyber security before an attack ensures the safety of sensitive information. The topic of cyber security and cyber warfare are interesting topics to keep up to date with. Understanding these topics can be beneficial to my dream of being in the FBI, ensuring the safety of others by working to prevent acts of cyberterrorism.

Hypothesis: The United State’s foreign policy will make a shift in the coming years to focus more intently on suppressing individual groups that use terrorism as a political strategy, rather than focusing on specific and identifiable States as in the past. The organizations mentioned before will be using the Internet to coordinate attacks, as well as attempt to hack US Government systems to their advantage. As a result, cyber security and antiterrorism stand to be the biggest future challenges for American foreign policy.

Today however, a new type of warfare has emerged and occurs when outside entities conduct an attack on a power grid, network, or both with the intent of causing damage. This type of warfare is called cyber warfare. In the United States computers control everything. It is no secret that hostile countries and terrorist organizations are cognizant and they know our economy, security, and infrastructure can be crippled by a successful cyber-attack. Examples of potential targets for cyber terrorists include military bases, water systems, banking facilities, air traffic control centers and power plants. Even the Commander in Chief, President Obama has stated the threat of a cyber war is real and we must prepare for it and increase our security measures. First, this paper will discuss cyberterrorism and cyber-attacks as they pose a direct threat to national security and the economy. Then, we will review cyber-attacks against the U.S. from China, Iran, and Russia along with the impact and possible ramifications from those attacks. Finally, this paper discusses U.S. strategies to minimize the impact of cyber-attacks.

For the possibility of an uptick in cyber incidents, the federal government has developed a number of tools to help

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