The whole world is experiencing data breaches and cyber attacks on daily basis. It has become extremely vial for the government to invest more in improving its cyber security and digital defense due to the increase in technological know how among the people which has made it easy for the general public to break into corporate systems and create havoc or turn the government websites into a joke just to protest.
Serious problems were created for the government when an anonymous hacker broke into the website of U.S Sentencing Commission and took it down. This was done through a code provided by a hacker for the “Operation Last Resort”.
The question is, if with a little collective effort the hackers can instigate a denial-of-service (DoS) attack plus also mock the government through making a shooting game out of it, what will they do next?
It has become very important for the governments to prepare for any such incidents in the future and to avoid the outcomes they may produce. The Pentagon’s current cybersecurity force comprises of only 900 members but according to recent reports this will soon change.
The move has not yet been announced officially but the news is that the number of force will be increased to 4,900 within the next few years, The Washington Post.
Said by an anonymous U.S defense official, this act is being carried out on the request of the head of the Defense Department of the Cyber Command, General Keith B. Alexander. The act aims to improve the cyber security force by appointing more professional staff to counter internal threats and attacks as well as to “conduct offensive operations against foreign foes”.
The formal structure of the expanded structure has not been formally decided but there are going to be high levels of both civil and military staff in the expanded cyber security force of the Pentagon. This will upgrade the force and bring it to the same level as the other forces of defense.
Reports say that Pentagon works closely with the Cyber Command of U.S. in order to form the “optimum force structure for successfully operating in cyberspace.”
A new cyberattack campaign has recently been found by the Kaspersky Labs. The campaign has been siphoning intelligence and data from mobile devices, networking equipments and computer systems and above all targeting and threatening government bodies.
