News flash: China is targeting American business and government entities for cyber attack in order to gain military and economic advantage...
...oh wait...you knew this?
On Monday in its annual report to congress on China's military capability, the Pentagon appeared to come off the fence regarding cyber attacks by China. “In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those
owned by the U.S. government, continued to be targeted for intrusions,
some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese
government and military,”the 100-page report said. This marks the first time
This revelation marks a turning point which could be good or bad for our profession. On the one hand, such an admission now allows the government to discuss the situation openly and formally (versus hinting at the problem with nonspecific acronym-easing phrases such as "advanced persistent threat.") Decisions can be made regarding policy, spending, and priority around the state-sponsored threat which lurks behind the Great Firewall of China.
On the other hand, we have all seen the lethargic pace at which government is able to respond legislatively to cyber threats; the Chinese threat may evolve exponentially if we remain content to await congressional policy action. More concerning, however, is the potential for the focus on China to obscure other potential threats vectors. As the recent spate of breach and investigation reports demonstrates, state-sponsored hacking still accounts for only a minority of the incidents out there.
Paying attention to China is a good thing...but we should not focus here to the exclusion of other threats.
The detailed Pentagon report may be found here. It's worth a read!
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