Cyber crime 'to overtake terrorism' as top threat facing the US
Iran has been identified as the main cyber threat to the United
States as the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
claims that intrusions are not being detected.
The report by DNI James R. Clapper identified Iran as the main danger to America's information security. It said: “Russia and China are aggressive and successful purveyors of
economic espionage against the United States. Iran's intelligence
operations against the United States, including cyber capabilities, have
dramatically increased in recent years in depth and complexity. We
assess that FIS (foreign intelligence services) from these three
countries will remain the top threats to the United States in the coming
years.”
He also claimed that FIS have launched numerous computer network
operations that target US government agencies, businesses and
universities, and believed that "many intrusions into US networks are
not being detected".
“Although most activity detected to date has been targeted against
unclassified networks connected to the internet, foreign cyber actors
have also begun targeting classified networks,” he said.
On insider threats, Clapper said insiders have caused significant
damage to US interests through the theft and unauthorised disclosure of
classified, economic and proprietary information and other acts of
espionage.
Observing the sophistication of computer network operations (CNO),
Clapper said these are likely to increase in coming years. He
acknowledged the two strategic challenges regarding cyber threats as:
the difficulty of providing timely, actionable warning of cyber threats
and incidents, such as identifying past or present security breaches,
definitively attributing them and accurately distinguishing between
cyber espionage intrusions and potentially disruptive cyber attacks; and
the highly complex vulnerabilities associated with the IT supply chain
for US networks.
“In both cases, US government engagement with private sector owners
and operators of critical infrastructures is essential for mitigating
these threats,” he said.
According to
FBI director Robert Mueller said cyber espionage, computer crime and
attacks on critical infrastructure will surpass terrorism as the number
one threat facing the US.
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