Last month, I pointed out in the Washington Post that President Obama drew a cyber “red line” in the sand in April when he signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against individuals or entities who carry out cyber-attacks or cyber-espionage against the United States – and that his failure to enforce it against China would invite more cyber-attacks.
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Now, a new classified US intelligence community assessment is warning that weak responses to breaches will lead to more cyber-attacks. The Washington Free Beacon reports:
The United States will continue to suffer increasingly damaging cyber attacks against both government and private sector networks as long as there is no significant response, according to a recent US intelligence community assessment.
Disclosure of the intelligence assessment, an analytical consensus of 16 US spy agencies, comes as the Obama administration is debating how to respond to a major cyber attack against the Office of Personnel Management. Sensitive records on 22.1 million federal workers, including millions cleared for access to secrets, were stolen by hackers linked to China’s government….
Last week, Adm. Mike Rogers, commander of the US Cyber Command, said the increase in state-sponsored cyber attacks is partly the result of a perception that “there’s not a significant price to pay” for such attacks…. “The administration is expecting more attacks because they’re unwilling to do anything,” said one official. “They’re preparing for more attacks because we’re failing to deter and defend against them.”…
Intelligence and cyber security experts agreed with the assessment that weak US responses are encouraging more cyber attacks.
“Until we redefine warfare in the age of information, we will continue to be viciously and dangerously attacked with no consequences for those attackers,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, a former Defense Intelligence Agency director.
“The extraordinary intellectual theft ongoing across the US’s cyber critical infrastructure has the potential to shut down massive components of our nation’s capabilities, such as health care, energy and communications systems. This alone should scare the heck out of everyone.”
In April, Obama warned that “from now on” his administration would “go after bad actors” who carry out cyberattacks on the United States. “Starting today,” Obama declared, “we’re giving notice to those who pose significant threats to our security or economy by damaging our critical infrastructure, disrupting or hijacking our computer networks, or stealing the trade secrets of American companies or the personal information of American citizens for profit.”
China responded by launching the most audacious cyber-attack in history, and Obama has done … nothing. The only thing worse than inaction in the face of aggression is bluster followed by inaction.
Obama needs to make the Chinese pay a price for their actions – or the price we pay will be an even more audacious attack.
from AEI » Latest Content http://ift.tt/1JvabEJ
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