Cyber Attacks in the United States - Essay Example

The truth is “it is struggling to keep pace with the growing number of attacks on its computer networks, potentially leaving the key military and civilian systems vulnerable to overseas hackers” (Gorman, 2009). The armed forces also aired that the cyber defenses of the country are being challenged by sophisticated and well-organized efforts to steal classified information. Military men agree to US’ vulnerability to cyber attacks. Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, who runs the National Security Agency said "I'd like to say that our networks are secure but that would not be correct. We have vulnerabilities." (Gorman, 2009).

Cynthia G Wagner, in her article “Countering Cyber Attacks”, reveals that the “information infrastructure” is at risk because it is so extensively networked; meaning that damage in one spot launches a chain reaction of problems everywhere. And networked computers are so integrated into every aspect of our lives that the damage would be felt almost instantaneously. Specific likely targets include the energy sector, emergency response and preparedness systems, financial services, telecommunications, and agriculture. She also highlighted the fact that the University of New Hampshire has initiated a new project “The Cyber Threat Calculator” for the U.S. Department of Defense that will surely help identify potential threats to cyberinfrastructure and assess the level of danger they pose. The Cyber Threat Calculator uses data entered for a particular organization, with values assigned to variables that measure a potential attacker's intent and technological capability. The higher the number that the calculator assigns to a possible attacker, the greater the threat. (Cynthia, 2007). Since 2008, the effort of the government has been on building a culture of preparedness. The government has focused on preparing effective strategies that could help in countering Cyber Terrorism or Cyber Attacks from hackers of nation-states such as Russia and China that have a mission to attain maximum know-how of US information infrastructure. (Anonymous, 2009)

The U.S. government has also already designated a special military unit to address the threat of cyber attacks. This unit is called Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM). This “is primarily responsible for the protection of the defense and civilian networks of the United States and can also be deployed to mount an information warfare attack on its enemies”. Read More