Joel Brenner’s book America the Vulnerable is written to make the reader aware of the history, present day, and future of digital security. Brenner, a former top-level National Security Agency insider, writes the book in a “behind the scenes” way to help explore America’s next great battleground. Everything from a simple password hack to taking one of the U.S. military’s fighter jets off course is discussed. All things like this can be done according to Brenner with the click of a mouse. Brenner goes on to talk about the three distinct categories of cyber worries that make America a vulnerable digital nation. One category discussed is the danger to the U.S. as a nation in terms of digital espionage and crime both inside and outside of the country itself. The other main points made by Brenner were more government based. Brenner discusses how America’s competition in terms of cyber security has become a risk to our own countries safety because of other countries growing knowledge in the digital spectrum. Also Brenner goes into detail on what our intelligence agencies are doing to try and slow down or possibly resolve the cyber issues. Brenner, a person with many ties to the CIA and NSA, begins the book explaining how America as a nation has done a poor job securing itself electronically. Though we as a nation have maintained to keep our heads above water there are still other nations who are not far behind, if they even are behind. Brenner starts off his book with a scary fact about a development that was made by the U.S. Navy to improve its submarines by making them extremely stealthy and much harder to track. Not long before the U.S. had completed the process the Chinese stole it. The electronic intelligence services of other nations keep the United States government digitally scared and yet the issue is still not handled to the extent that it should
The pros of electronic surveillance are extensive. The ability for agents of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) to intercept and process communications and information from foreign powers, agents of foreign powers, international terrorist organizations, and others who seek to engage in activities with such groups, provides the ...
At this juncture, it may be somewhat difficult to accept the proposition that a threat to the telecommunications grid, both wired and wireless, in the United States could potentially be subject to a catastrophic cyber attack. After careful research on the subject, it appears the potentiality of an event of such magnitude, which either disrupts one or the other grids for a long period or destroys either, is both theoretically and realistically impossible. It may be that proponents—those who advance such theories—equate such “doomsday” scenarios as if a cyber attack would or could be of the same magnitude as a conventional or nuclear military strike. Terms such as “cyber Pearl Harbor,” “cyber 9/11” and “cyber Vietnam” have been used to describes potential catastrophic cyber attacks and yet, “Though many have posited notions on what a ‘real’ cyber war would be like, we lack the understanding of how such conflicts will be conducted and evolve.” (Rattray & Healey, 2010, p. 77). Yet, the U.S. government continues to focus on such events, as if the plausibility of small-scale cyber attacks were not as pressing.
On September 11th, 2001, four planes were hijacked, two planes hit the twin towers, one hit the pentagon, and one crash-landed in a field in Pennsylvania. Since then the government has been doing everything it can to help with security at airports, in airplanes, and in everyday life. Even though the government has been trying to increase security, terrorists have still been successful. Since 9/11, the government has taken many steps to increase security and decrease terrorism. However, security has increased, while terrorism has not decreased.
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
Most are already aware of the level of surveillance the federal government has on our internet lives - with the amount of arrests related to movements referred to by names such as 'cyber-terrorism', it's obvious to see why. The constant clashing of opinionated groups behind the wall of a digital screen can lead to real-life danger. In addition, once one decides to take a peek into examples of this, they unearth a plethora of criminal activity and chain-reaction events, ranging from drug networking, to assassination and shooting plans, to popularized images and videos of murder and cruelty.
Terrorism represents a continuing threat to the United States. It is the most significant threat to our national security. Terrorist attacks have definitely left many concerns about the possibilities of future incidents of terrorism in the United States. Since the events of September 11, 2011, Americans and much of the world are afraid. Americans are at war with terrorism and no longer feel comfortable. A part of this unease feeling has to do with cyber terrorism.
Australia is dependent on technology, everything from state security, economics and information collaboration is more accessible resulting in an increased reliance on digital networks. The rapid increase in cyber activity has a symbiotic relationship with cyber crime. The evolving nature of cyber crimes are constantly leaving counter measures obsolete in the face of these new technologies. Australia takes insufficient action against cyber crime, inaction is based on Australia’s previous focus on counter-terrorism. This study will use the Australia’s National Security Strategy 2013 to show the increasing trend towards cyber security. Unfortunately the Australia Government is lacking in the presence of this growing phenomenon. Recently cyber crimes including attacks from Anonymous and Wiki-leaks prove that no network is completely secure. This study will conclude that the exponential growth of the Internet has resulted in an inability to properly manage regardless of the governmental strategies being implemented.
Future Crimes is a gripping book about the plethora of risks that encompass cybersecurity based crimes; Future Crimes delivers a staggering glimpse into the dark side of technological innovation and addresses the inadvertent consequences of our connected world. Future Crimes is written by one of the world’s leading authorities on global security, Marc Goodman. “Marc Goodman is a global strategist, author, and consultant focused on the disruptive impact of advancing technologies on security, business, and international affairs. Over the past twenty years, he has built his expertise in next generation security threats such as cybercrime, cyber-terrorism, and information warfare working with organizations such as Interpol, the United Nations,
As a patriot of this great nation, what has been presented is of extreme if not grave concern. The challenges of cyberculture to our nation’s security have been revealed . To what extent our security has been breached is a matter of speculation but be informed that these breaches must be met with complete counter active success - failure to do so is not an option.
Although an act of cyberterrorism has yet to occur, officials and scholars continuously study the possibilities of such an attack. As our physical and virtual worlds continue to intertwine the risk of such an event rapidly increases. Everything from our transportation systems to pharmaceutical manufacturing are computer controlled. The closest the world has come to an act of cyberterrorism was in 2000. Known as the Maroochy Shire case in Queensland, Australia was committed by Vitek Boden. Boden was an engineer for Pacific Paradise, a sewage pumping in Australia. He was able to successful hack into a control system modifying the operations and dumping millions of litres of raw sewage into the local waterways. Boden’s motivation was the only reason the act was not classified as cyberterrorism was his motivation. It was personal rather than political or religious in nature (Sharp Parker, 2009). The only reason this wasn’t the first act of cyberterrorism was motivation. As companies invest in upgrading their technological capabilities, they too need to invest in security structure to protect their systems and the public from threats of terrorism. Our government must also decide how to address public safety in regards to cyberterrorism. On September 11th, 2001 America was reminded how vulnerable we are when it comes to acts of terrorism. The sheer complexity and varying design of attacks often makes it very difficult to create a catch-all defense in fighting terrorism. To improve the disruption of terrorist activities by government agencies in the United States many laws needed to be updated to include the latest areas of electronic communications.
According to Riley Walters, a researcher on foreign and national policy, an average of 160 successful cyber attacks occur every week on various U.S. industries in attempts to gain confidential information (1). Similar to other national security challenges following the 9/11 attacks, cyber threat can originate from unexpected places, resulting in a creation of a dynamic risk to national security. Cyber attackers can come from places such as the intelligence gathering components of foreign militaries or organized terrorist organizations, to any experienced individual. Each have different abilities and operating methods, making their threats difficult to counter (Rollins Henning 1). Year after year, federal agencies report an ever increasing amount
But before we start to take a look into the recent issues of cyber privacy, we must answer the questions in regards of how should we analysis the cyber securitization via critical security aspects? Traditional Security studies argues that the national security is essential to all citizens, because that in a anarchy and competitive arm force battle, only when the country is secured, the people will therefore be secured in the same manner. In other words, if the country is not secure, the government does not guarantee the individual’s security. The traditional security studies reflect the crucial reality of the current status and the balance of power between the states; then again, as critical security studies scholars will point out: not everyone will be impact directly from military force but...
Society has become ever-increasingly dependent upon technology, more specifically, computers to conduct personal and business transactions and communications. Consequently, criminals have targeted these systems to conduct information and cyber warfare, which can include politically motivated attacks and to profit through ill-gotten means. In an article written by Koblentz and Mazanec (2013), cyber warfare is the act of disabling an enemy’s ability to use or obtain information, degrading its ability to make decisions, and to command its military forces. Additionally, information warfare is composed of cyber warfare and related to the protection, disruption, destruction, denial, or manipulation of information in order to gain a benefit through the technologies (Taddeo, 2012). Accordingly, as technology becomes readily available to various entities, the ability to conduct or perform warfare through technological means is multiplying.
The nation has become dependent on technology, furthermore, cyberspace. It’s encompassed in everything we deliver in our daily lives, our phones, internet, communication, purchases, entertainment, flying airplane, launching missiles, operating nuclear plants, and implicitly, our protection. The more ever-growing technology empower Americans, the more they become prey to cyber threats. The United States Executive Office of the President stated, “The President identified cybersecurity as one of the top priorities of his administration in doing so, directed a 60-day review to assess polices.” (United States Executive Office of the President, 2009, p.2). Furthermore, critical infrastructure, our network, and internet alike are identified as national assets upon which the administration will orchestrate integrated cybersecurity policies without infringing upon and protecting privacy. While protecting our infrastructure, personal privacy, and civil liberties, we have to keep in mind the private sector owns and operates the majority of our critical and digital infrastructure.
The world is in another cold war, except this time countries are battling for cyber supremacy. Cyberspace is a massive land of ever-changing technology and personal interaction (McGuffin and Mitchell 1). Cyberspace is not only a place where people post pictures and update their profile, but it also plays an enormous role in running a country. Advanced countries use computers to guide their military, keep track of citizens, run their power grids, and hold plans for nuclear devices and nuclear power. Risks to commercial and government concerns are now being noticed and many countries are taking actions to prevent such threats (McGuffin and Mitchell 1).