Playing Defense?

The U.S. has finally publically called out some of perpetrators of on-going cyber espionage. The Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive released a report that aggressive cyber espionage has been issuing heavily from Russia and China. According to an article on PCWorld, the two countries have be targeting areas of manufacturing, defense, and research.  There is the possibility that they are stealing technology data to enhance their economies as stated in the article in the Washington Post.

My previous posts that questioned the accuracy of blaming China have been validated by the report’s statement that "Chinese actors are the world's most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage" (Kirk). Nonetheless, China still denies the allegations, claiming that it is also been a victim of on-going hacking itself. It is unclear which cyber attacks or how many are specifically government-sponsored but there are definite traces of hacks coming from the country. This report finally urges the U.S. and the corporate world to take the threat of cyber attacks and competition seriously and come up with a solution to the on-going problem.   

Since the U.S. government stated that cyber attacks should now be taken as acts of war, it will be interesting to see how the U.S. will react to this new information in the long run. Perhaps, cyber espionage will be held less aggressive than a cyber attack which would result in actual data or processes being tampered with.  Definitions for these hostile actions will need to be solidified so that the government can actually come up with a most advantageous response. Presently, the Obama administration is urging individuals, corporations, and businesses to better protect their data with the use of encryptions, authentications, and frequent monitoring. U.S. officials are urging research to increase in cyber defense.

Cyber espionage is constantly getting more easy and advantageous, since more information is being held on smartphones and laptops than ever before. Without much effort or resources, intruders from anywhere in the world can hack into different networks or files without immediate detection. Since information is now held in electronic files, one hack can provide an enormous amount of information. This provides a huge threat to the U.S. and its status in the world economy. Some may find the US government’s responses to the proof of Chinese and Russian cyber espionage as weak; however, it would be unwise for the government to confess that it will retaliate with similar tactics in cyber space. This would go against the previous voice of decent to any cyber attacks. Even though it appears we are simply taking a defensive stance, the question is: are we really?  

  

Kirk, Jeremy. “US Report Warns of Russia, China Cyber Spying.” PC World. Nov. 3, 2011. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243102/us_report_warns_of_russia_china_cyber_spying.html

“U.S. Report Accuses China, Russia of Cyber-Espionage to Help Build their own Economies.” Associated Press. The Washington Post. Nov. 3, 2011. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243102/us_report_warns_of_russia_china_cyber_spying.html.