Protecting Essential Infrastructures and Institutions
A cyber-attack refers to a politically based attempt to compromise or undermine the functions of computer systems of a country. It is also referred to as efforts to track the online movements of an individual or a country without their permission (Graff, 2011). This paper will discuss why U.S is more open to cyber-attacks than its likely enemies. It will also discuss how U.S. can guard its energy sector against cyber-attacks.
Question 1
Clarke wrote down that the United States is more vulnerable to cyber-attack than before. This is because the country is trying to fight the constant attacks that it keeps on receiving from online breach. He states that, because of this, U.S is, in a daily basis, losing a lot of intellectual property rights due to cyber-attack. Clarke states that the recent attacks on U.S corporations have given the country’s government a sense of urgency to fight these threats to the country’s computer network. These corporations that are under attack are the likes of Google Inc, Lockheed Martin Corp, the Nasdaq stock exchange as well as the RSA (Graff, 2011).
Question 2
The U.S defense force says that unknown hackers have been aiming at a small group of workers at U.S. gas corporations in a likely effort to attack the pipelines systems. The department stated that the hackers have applied a method referred to as "spear fishing" to swindle people into opening electronic mails with links or attachments that have malicious software. Such software can assist hackers get passwords and access to private information (Niiler, 2012). In conclusion, these power companies should set e-mail monitoring tools to check incoming mails before they are opened since this is one of the major ways that hackers use to monitor the U.S energy sector.
References
Graff, P. U. (2011). Vulnerable to cyber attacks: Military chief. London: Reuters Press.
Niiler, E. (2012). Energy grid: Safe from cyber attack? New York: Discovery News.
