In the wake of last week’s severe cyber breach of a federal agency, US President Barack Obama called for aggressive improvement and bolstering of all government cyber defenses.
A probe is pointing to blatant signs of Chinese involvement. President Obama himself didn’t exactly accuse the Chinese government of leading the hacking, but one could feel the tension. The tension is already there thanks to territory disputes over the South China Sea. The President vows to block those who break into system at the G7 Summit, a summit where top nations discuss global threats and tensions. US officials say the reason intruders hacked the Office of Personal Management wasn’t for typical financial gains. These motives were allegedly even more sinister. The motives include recruiting spies and getting weapon and industrial secrets. Beijing continues to insists it had nothing to do with this security breach. But President Obama admits significant venerability in our old US computer systems. He urged US Congress to pass laws strengthening cyber-security. President Obama said at the summit, “In the case of state actors, they’re probing for intelligence or in some cases trying to bring down systems in pursuit of their various foreign policy objectives.” Again, he didn’t name names or nations, but I think they’re plenty of elephants in the room.
And China isn’t the only elephant. Look at the tension between China and the US, over jobs, over economies, and now over the South China Sea. But Russia has also been known for hacking into US government facilities. In recent years, relations between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been colder than ice. They’ve argued over everything from Ukraine to Iran. Remember the whole North Korea hacking scandal over the Franco/Rogen movie The Interview? If they’re willing to commit a hack attack over a movie, then what about when real issues come up? Is it just me, or is the world becoming a more dangerous place? Now do you understand why we need to strengthen our cyber defenses to maximum security by any means possible?