The recent cyberattack that temporarily shut down Twitter, Netflix, PayPal and others may be just the beginning of disruptive communications warfare.    While this cyberattack appears to have orchestrated by a rogue band of hackers who call themselves the New World Hackers, it portends an ominous future for cybersecurity.

The “attack” called distributed denial-of-service or Ddos causes tens of thousands of mobile devices to simultaneously query server databases that cannot handle the volume of requests and simply shutdown. Read more by clicking the link below:

http://time.com/4541790/cyberattack-internet-hackers-cameras-toys/

This recent cyberattack comes on the heels of “leaked” emails from high-ranking members in the Democratic National Party by Wikileaks that may have been provided by Russian government intelligence sources. The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. intelligence officials have long feared these attacks and have presumably instituted safeguards and countermeasures to prevent such occurrences.

DoD Network, Systems and Data or DDNSD

In 2013, the Department of Defense established detailed guidelines to protect the country’s cyber networks. A hyperlink to the recently updated unclassified version is shown below:

http://iac.dtic.mil/csiac/download/DDNSD_Public_Releasable_11132014.pdf

While our network security has improved dramatically since 9/11, hackers (state-sponsored and independent) continue to breach our security system with increasing regularity. It is impossible to know how the “defection” of Edward Snowden compromised our security, but most security experts claim that the damage was considerable. See below . . .

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-23123964

Several years ago I attended a lecture on internet security by a security specialist who was consulting with Homeland Security. He showed a frightening realtime analysis of hacking attempts against Windows-based peripherals, particularly printers.

It seems that the New World Hackers were able to orchestrate their assault on vulnerable servers using cellphones and other internet-enabled peripherals. If this is the case, virtually all systems are vulnerable. Furthermore, as Hillary Clinton and the DNC have shown, we don’t take security-measures seriously. As an example, I watched this same internet security consultant break into the Club Membership database in less than 30 seconds.

U.S. Army Cybersecurity Budget

The U.S. Infrastructure Is clearly vulnerable at a national, but appears to be strengthening its defenses at a tactical level:

The Army is aligning its dollars to meet new cyber priorities, Miller says, as the Defense Department seeks to put its money where its mouth is. The fiscal year 2017 defense budget calls for $6.7 billion for cyber operations, an increase of $900 million compared with the fiscal year 2016 enacted base budget. The suite includes an overhaul of Army Regulation 25-2—which had been the master document for information assurance—to focus on cybersecurity and how officials should protect the Defense Department’s information technology systems, Miller adds. “We are more focused on how we identify potential risks, how we detect potential risks and how we respond and recover should something happen,” she remarks. “We always need to assume there is some level of risk or activity already taking place on the network.”

http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=Article-us-army-creates-cybersecurity-strategy-new-normal

With the recent cyber assaults, it is evident that we must measure and counter-measure to protect our national interests.  While compartmentalising essential services may impact efficiencies, it makes us far less vulnerable to malicious hacking. Each cyber security agency will be developing their software and firmware to ensure their client’s businesses are safe. Hopefully these developed systems whether that is by using german proxies or using strong firewalls, it will help protect the data, networks and systems of each businesses, keeping them cyber secure.