U.S. Seems to be Unstable in War Against Hackers

In offering his thoughts of the nation’s efforts to keep computer hackers from plundering corporate data networks, Shawn Henry said, “we’re not winning.”  This is a grim appraisal from the FBI’s top cyber cop.  Henry’s comments, though not directed at any certain legislation, come as Congress is  considering two competing measures designed to buttress the networks for critical U.S. infrastructure, such as electrical-power plants and nuclear reactors.

Although dozens of hackers have been arrested, the attacks keep coming.  Earlier this week a military dating website was hacked and posted personal information of nearly 171,000 accounts on Pastebin.   Last month, the source code for Symantec’s PCAnywhere was offered up thanks to hackers.  These types of attacks leave companies and the government on edge and feeling vulnerable.

“I don’t see how we ever come out of this without changes in technology or changes in behavior, because with the status quo, it’s an unsustainable model,” Henry told the Wall Street Journal. “Unsustainable in that you never get ahead, never become secure, never have a reasonable expectation of privacy or security.”

Mr. Henry’s comments seem to not be to discourage, but to bring the severity of this issue into light.  Companies need to get their leadership to understand that this is a grave situation that needs their attention.  “If leadership doesn’t say, ‘This is important, let’s sit down and come up with a plan right now in our organization; let’s have a strategy,’ then it’s never going to happen, and that is a frustrating thing for me,” says Henry.