Current Events discussion in the Technology or Security Arena - Assignment Example

ISIS Hackers Breach U.S. Military Social Media Accounts Late last year, the Sony hacking left the world surprised that the rogue state of North Korea could hack a US based company. However, the breaching of US military social media accounts was what may have shocked the world most. The rising tide of system security breaching seems to have gone a notch higher. According to the Clarion Project, the ISIS successfully hacked YouTube and Twitter accounts belonging to the US central command. The hackers also posted propaganda video on the central command’s YouTube account.
According to the threats posted by ISIS, the terror group claimed that they retrieved sensitive information about the US Army including their close families. Meanwhile, the Pentagon reported that no sensitive information was on the social site. US authorities affirmed that no classified information is ever posted on the social site. Authorities also confirmed that the hackers did nothing much except to take control of the Megaphone (Clarion Project 1). The incident lasted for 40 minutes, during which the ISIS bragged and issued threat the best way it could.
The fact that computer systems can be hacked remotely is not a new phenomenon except that it is a big question which system is hacked. Online companies have found themselves dragged into wars that many of them are hardly prepared. The fact that many social websites allow users to post on their walls or those of others, it seems that a security breach portal is always open for manipulation. That implies that such limited permission encryption for posting on another user’s wall can be de-encrypted in part for hacking.
Obama, Cameron Promise To Cooperate On Cybersecurity
In a related incident, the problem of system security, particularly cyber security, is now being treated with the seriousness it deserves. Governments have realized that as long as they are going to use some of the services offered by social media, the have to protect them. Such protection may imply formulating new laws that regulate what is to be released to the public. While responding to questions, Cameron hinted that given the present of terrorism, it is important that governments wake up to the realization that the digital era requires monitoring of communications (Horsley 1). The specific security question that came out was the observation that social media companies, for instance, Facebook and Google, are offering high-tech encryption technology. Cameron observes that by offering unbreakable codes, social media companies are putting security of citizens in risk. That is because terrorists can manipulate such codes for unethical practices. That is to imply that the current dilemma of cyber security is partly a problem created by parties oblivious of the consequences of their actions.
Given the stiff nature of competition, and given the right to privacy, property ownership and patent rights, such companies would be reluctant to share their security codes with the government. Doing so would technically implies ceding the administration of their system to the government. As it is now, system administrators should consider implementing other additional security features such as restricting access using IP. Gmail and Facebook, for instance, have implemented a system that synchronizes a security code to the user phone. Should a different IP attempt to login, it has to be preceded by manual entry of a system generated security code. Such an approach may improve the current predicament.
Works Cited
Horsley, Scott. “Obama, Cameron Promise To Cooperate On Cybersecurity.”
NPR, 2015 January 16. Accessed from http://www.npr.org/2015/01/16/377780818/obama-cameron-promise-to-cooperate-on- cybersecurity
The Clarion Project .Org. “ISIS Hackers Breach U.S. Military Social Media Accounts.” January 13, 2015. Accessed from http://www.clarionproject.org/news/isis-hackers-breach-us- military-social-media-accounts Read More