Guest Blogger: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) on Cyber Security
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez /
Recent cyber attacks against the official websites of the South Korean and American governments have created a new generation of national defense and homeland security issues for the U.S., which we must be ready to meet and defend against in the 21st century. Although the Internet has increasingly brought the world together, it has also added a new layer of threats from terror groups and rogue nations that are building up offensive cyber attack capabilities. Evidence of the crippling effects of cyber attacks was most recently seen during the Russian-Georgian war, when the Russian military shut down critical Georgian government websites in coordination with the ground attack on South Ossetia.
To protect the U.S. from this new era of cyber threats, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has announced the creation of a new centralized command dedicated to cyber warfare and securing military cyber assets and websites. The U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) will employee thousands of “cyber warriors” to combat the growing number of cyber spies from countries like Russia and China that try to infiltrate our military cyber grid and gain intelligence. Although most Americans don’t realize that we’re engaged in daily combat against cyber warfare, these cyber warriors are truly unsung heroes who protect vital military assets oversees. (more…)