By Jim McFarlin
2014 was a challenging year for America’s cyber security. Like
falling dominos, a wave of corporate, government and military organizations
succumbed to damaging, expensive and–in many cases–embarrassing breaches of
their information networks.
2015 promises to be even more challenging. The Department of
Homeland Security estimated a 215% increase in reported cyberattacks over the
past three years, with similar acceleration projected into the foreseeable
future.
Last year’s attacks offered many
lessons, most notably these:
●
It was repeatedly demonstrated that when cyber
assailants come to call, the U.S. is vulnerable, unaware, and open to
attack.
●
It was also apparent that the safety of personal
financial and investment accounts is effectively in the hands of those with
malicious intent, not the institutions that hold our assets.
The only positive claim any of those attacked could make was
that the damage was contained--and eventually stopped. However, it’s important
to keep in mind that these are the institutions that were unaware of their network
intrusions for weeks or even months.
Further, in a reported 71% of cases, those being breached only
became aware of the attacks once informed by an outside party or government
agency.
The list of compromised businesses includes retailer Target,
which somehow managed to miss or ignore alerts they were under cyberattack despite
24/7 outside monitoring and the installation of a brand new $1.6 million
cybersecurity system just three months before the attacks. The assault swept
across the land throughout the year, ravaging the likes of Neiman-Marcus,
Michael’s Stores, PF Changs, Home Depot, JPMorgan, and many others.
JPMorgan, considered the “gold standard” for cyber security
in the financial services industry, boasts a staff of 3,000 cybersecurity
professionals backed by an annual cybersecurity budget of $250 million. Even
this was not enough to stop cyberattackers from hacking account information. In
fact, the banking giant realized that up to 83 million accounts had been compromised
only after an incidental tip from a third party.
The Sony Pictures
attacks in November went beyond data theft, involving not only misappropriation
of intellectual property (films), but also destruction of computer systems,
extortion, and threats of 9/11-style violence.
The confused, conflicting, and oft-reversed response from
Sony and involved U.S. agencies clearly illustrate yet another lesson from
2014: the U.S. is woefully unprepared to respond to serious
cyberattacks in a coherent, effective manner.
With such examples of successful attacks against major
institutions, can the organizations that produce and distribute our electrical
power be far behind?
The answer is that no such safety, perceived or otherwise,
can be taken for granted. In a serious cyberattack against U.S. power
generation or distribution facilities, power outages impacting large swaths of
the country could continue for weeks, months or longer, rendering traditional
preparedness actions ineffective, and in the end, only delaying the inevitable
chaos, loss of life and lack of social order.
When considered against the deadly combination of escalating
global instability, the growing black market availability of cyber weaponry,
and the startling propensity for Islamic extremists to take their war to the
home turf of Western democracies in Europe and beyond, cyber insecurity appears to describe America’s
future for the coming year.
Network security should include the most up to date data encryption, virtual private network, and firewall technology, as well as other common cyber threats.
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