Cyberattacks: America's Looming Threat

By Michelle Giametta on 07/13/2009

Since 9/11 America and its allies have been on high alert, constantly looking for signs to prevent another terrorist attack. However, while the threat of a physical attack is always present, another kind of attack is looming just below the surface- cyberattacks. Hacking into or shutting down government websites for a significant period of time could be crippling for the United States and could leave Americans in an extremely vulnerable state.

USA Today reported that, "a widespread computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the websites of the Treasury Department, the Secret Service and other U.S. government agencies, according to officials inside and outside the government. Sites in South Korea were also affected, and South Korean intelligence officials believe the attack was carried out by North Korean or pro-Pyongyang forces."

The cyberattack is being described as a "distributed denial of service," in which the hackers use personal computers to flood particular websites with an overwhelming amount of data. Flooding the government websites with misinformation may make us question the reliability of the information we are receiving. A majority of the public gets all, or most, of their information from the internet. This could be detrimental if Americans need to depend on these sites during an emergency. How secure will America be if people feel they can't trust government websites?

An article written by the National Journal in May 2008 stated that, "Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast." Adding to the concerns of US intelligence is that these cyberspies not only have the know-how to disrupt our power grids and infrastructure but that they have left behind software programs that could be activated to disrupt during a crisis or war. Could it be that we have been under attack for quite sometime now?

Reports about cyberattacks don't affect the American people the same way as the prospect of a bloody attack. Many people are unable to fully grasp the importance of keeping our government information confidential and don't understand the ramifications of what a cyberattack could mean. Hacking into American government websites will leave the American public wide open to a potential terrorist attack. Shutting down specific internet channels can stifle major avenues of communication for the government to get information out to the American people. Much of America's intelligence is linked to the cyber world such as our satellites and our military ships and jets. The United States military would be severely weakened and results of a massive cyberattack on the United States could be catastrophic.

Has the American public become complacent to the fact that we have enemies that will stop at nothing to destroy us? And has the fact that our enemies have not been able to successfully execute a terrorist attack in this country since 9/11 lulled us into a false sense of security? Will America be caught off-guard yet again?

[Additional Photos: Young-joon/AP, 2009; U.S. Safety and Security, 2009; AP, 2009]