Defending Against Cyber Attacks a Priority — Survey
ThinkstockRecent cyber attacks on the Federal Reserve, The New York Times, and the Washington Post have raised the spectre of a new brand of warfare β cyber war. In a recent study conducted by two research firms for Internet security…
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Recent cyber attacks on the Federal Reserve, The New York Times, and the Washington Post have raised the spectre of a new brand of warfare β cyber war. In a recent study conducted by two research firms for Internet security company Tenable Network Security, some 60% of respondents support increased government spending βto train and equip βcyberwarriorsβ to defend the U.S. against outside attacks.β
Now because Tenable sells Internet security products, the company does have a dog in the hunt. Even so, the results are impressive given the recent new reports on the hacking of government and private networks. For example:
- 93% of those surveyed believe that U.S. companies are at least somewhat vulnerable to state-sponsored cyber attacks
- 95% believe that the U.S. government is at least somewhat vulnerable to attacks
- 94% believe the President should have the same authority to repel cyber attacks as he has to respond to physical attacks
Numbers that high canβt simply be the result of fear-mongering and conspiracy theories. After all, the attacks are often aimed at personal information that companies or governments maintain on U.S. citizens. No one wants that data to fall into the wrong hands.
The irony of the situation, of course, is that the U.S. has already launched at least one cyber attack β the Stuxnet worm β against Iran with the intention of slowing down that countryβs nuclear development program. But did that action essentially give other actors, whether individuals or states like China, permission to launch cyber attacks of their own?
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
