Homeland Security Measures - Essay Example

This has remarkably revolutionized the basic framework, but has created numerous security threats at the same time. Unfortunately, both the state and out of state cyber criminals are becoming more coordinated and strong, which has really put the United States government in a fix. (OUR NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE; AN IMMEDIATE STRATEGIC CONCERN IN NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY) According to the author of the article, the oil and gas companies seem to be the main targets for the hackers, because of their widespread businesses, which are even established in far fledge places, where contact can be made only via satellites.

As a result, it becomes easier for the cyber criminals to extract private information, without the security companies knowing about it. Furthermore, the energy sector, which includes these oil and gas companies, would be affected the most if cyber-attacks were carried out at a significant scale, in the near future. Global projects, intercontinental partnerships and contractors, make the energy sector a vast industry spread over the world. Keeping in check who is accessing the data and extracting valuable information becomes a herculean task.

The oil and gas companies are packed with important data, which if it gets in the wrong hands, can be have detrimental effects. Not only is there financial information to be protected, but also confidential customer information and various facts and figures. The author is accurate in his argument that the energy sector is the most vulnerable of all the other sectors and thus, a key target for cyber criminals. In today’s world, there is an ongoing energy crisis. Oil and gas companies are the main industries that contribute to the energy production in the world.

The energy sector takes care of the economy, national defense and the well-being of the people. If the energy sector is attacked, then the world will be facing serious problems. U.S. owns twenty percent of the natural resources and a large number of oil reserves, which is not only necessary to maintain its own economy but to stabilize the economy of the world as well. Therefore, U.S. oil and gas companies are spread in almost every area of the world, and an attack on these is considerably easier than on any other company.

Furthermore, cyber-criminals can gain power and dominance by getting their hands on valuable information related to these companies, as it basically controls the world’s economy. (Information Security in the Oil and Gas Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Sectors). SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. It is used to control automated industrial operations on wide scale. These industrial operations include the energy sector as well. SCADA system if implemented properly can be very helpful to the companies.

There will be no need for visits and monthly inspections by an official. It can make changes to the system, solve errors and reduces operational costs (Why SCADA?). However, it has become vital for the companies to keep the SCADA and other industrial control systems in check. This is because what these operating systems contain is private and valuable information, which at no cost can be leaked to any criminal organization. The interlinked information of U.S. national infrastructure has made it easy for criminals to extract information and cyber security has come under serious threat.

In addition, there have been concerns that