In the wake of the recent massive DDoS that blocked access to 1,200+ websites, attention has been drawn to whether America is truly prepared to respond to frequent, large scale cyberattacks – from either nations or independent groups.
“Fundamentally cyber is no different than air, sea or land. It’s a place. And we’re going to have national-security concerns there,” retired Admiral James Stavridis told the Wall Street Journal. To that measure, Adm. Stavridis proposes the development of a cyber force, and the appointment of a director of cybersecurity, allowing for national responses to attacks on government and military, as well as U.S. citizens and companies.
With the capacity to commit such cyberattacks becoming cheaper and cheaper, many experts believe the attacks will only get worse until a national calamity forces a coordinated response between the private and public sectors. As to what form this attack may take, experts are divided, but many point to industrial control systems, noting that many of these systems were designed decades before the idea of connecting critical systems to the Internet was a possibility.
Source:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/america-isnt-ready-for-a-cyberattack-1477847499?mod=e2tw
