[Infowarrior] - DNI: “Cyber Armageddon” not likely to wipe out US

[Richard Forno]

(Now excuse me while I pick myself up from the floor, having fainted after seeing that a senior USG person dared to downplay the cyber-FUD scenario so over-used by DC insiders.  —rick)


“Cyber Armageddon” not likely to wipe out US, intelligence director says

Cyber threats "are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication, and severity."

by David Kravets - Feb 26, 2015 1:31pm EST

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/cyber-armageddon-not-likely-to-wipe-out-us-intelligence-director-says/

The likelihood that the US will suffer from a "catastrophic" cyber attack is unlikely, the nation's top intelligence officer said Thursday. Instead, the country will be peppered with "low-to-moderate level cyber attacks," James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

"Cyber threats to US national and economic security are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication, and severity of impact," according to the "Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community" (PDF) report that Clapper presented to lawmakers. "Rather than a 'Cyber Armageddon' scenario that debilitates the entire US infrastructure, we envision something different. We foresee an ongoing series of low-to-moderate level cyber attacks from a variety of sources over time, which will impose cumulative costs on US economic competitiveness and national security."

Listing cyber attacks as the leading threat to national security over terrorism, the report said the government's "unclassified" IT systems supporting military, commercial, and social activities "remain vulnerable to espionage and/or disruption." The top nation-states where the threats are coming from include China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, the report said.

Cyber attacks are becoming more commonplace, too, according to the report. "The muted response by most victims to cyber attacks has created a permissive environment in which low-level attacks can be used as a coercive tool short of war, with relatively low risk of retaliation."

The report noted that Russia, like the US, is establishing cyber offensive capabilities that include "propaganda operations and inserting malware into enemy command and control systems.”


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It's better to burn out than fade away.