Nov 28, 2011 On Monday, the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey warned about the constant breaches to the nation's cyber-security and continued vulnerability to cyber-terrorism.
U.S. military officials have frequently warned that cyber threats are an area of increasing focus and regardless of the Pentagon budget woes, more investment in cyber-security is critical. General Dempsey made the comments at a forum in London.
"We lose enormous intellectual property rights. We're under constant attack every day. And it's going to take a whole government approach" said Dempsey.
In an intelligence report prepared for Congress earlier this month, China and Russia were identified as the most active nations that are using cyber-espionage to steal U.S. trade and technology secrets. China in particular, is accused of massive ongoing cyberespionage against American companies.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Wang Baodong denied the allegations. The Russian Embassy did not respond to the findings in the report.
Scott Borg, director of the US Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit think tank said the report appears to be moving the issue of cyber-espionage into a formal realm where diplomats will negotiate the issue.
"This is a serious threat to our economy, yet it's so new that government officials don't know what would be an appropriate response,” according to Borg.
Hackers and attackers clearly have the advantage in the cyber war on terror. In the report. “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace" it says the Internet provides relatively small-scale actors an opportunity to become players in economic espionage.
Cyber security experts say the data losses continue to occur because U.S. companies have not effectively protected their interests and the government cannot easily share threat information that it considers secret. Additionally, most businesses do not report intrusions to their systems with U.S. officials, making it hard for the government to warn others or to build defenses.
The United States Department of Homeland Security still hasn't come to terms with the seriousness of the Nation's cyber-security vulnerabilities. Secretary Napolitano acknowledged last month that hackers have “come close” several times to shutting down elements of the nation’s infrastructure.
Recent attacks on U.S. corporations such as Google Inc, the Nasdaq stock exchange, Lockheed Martin Corp, and RSA, the security division of EMC Corp, Amazon.com and i-tunes and U.S. government and military websites including the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, FBI and numerous law enforcement agencies has sparked a sense of urgency to address threats to U.S. computer networks.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey said at Monday's conference:
"We are not immune to coercion in cyber. And we have to get after it," Dempsey said. "We're working on it ... but in my judgment we need to work harder."
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