Cybersecurity in the federal government: Failing to maintain a secure cyber infrastructure
Since the first cyber-attack in 1988, online viruses have proliferated through personal, organizational and government computers worldwide with devastating consequences and further reports have highlighted flaws in the country's information infrastructure that put national security, public safety and personal privacy at risk.
Abstract
Christine Lino is a graduate student at Drexel University College of Information Science and Technology, concentrating in digital libraries. She currently works for the Department of Defense and deals primarily with personnel and information security. She can be reached at crl38<at>drexel.edu. T he North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) manages The NATO Review, a free online magazine containing opinion and analysis on current international security threats and challenges. Cybersecurity is highlighted on the NATO Review's website and includes a timeline titled, " The History of Cyber Attacks, " that outlines the most significant and detrimental cyber-attacks throughout the world in the past 20 years. According to the timeline, the first significant cyber-attack was launched in 1988 and spread across many computers within the United States. The attack, labeled the " Morris Worm, " exploited vulnerabilities in the UNIX system Noun 1 and had the ability to self-replicate and subsequently slow down computers, rendering them useless [1]. A decade later, in May of 2000, the " ILOVEYOU " virus spread like wildfire via an email transmission that prompted users to open an attachment. The action of opening the attachment triggered attack code, automatically forwarding the email virus to all contacts in the user's email contact list. Prior to this incident viruses sent via spam were rare; however, the ILOVEYOU virus changed the playing field by demonstrating how malware can send itself through spam and prey on human psychology [2]. The National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was tasked with coordinating efforts with the private sector to collect data pertaining to possible cyber threats as well as sharing the information effectively. However, although the NIPC learned of the ILOVEYOU virus at 5:45 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, an alert was not disseminated until 11 a.m., after many federal agencies were hit [3]. Almost 12 hours after the delayed notification, guidance regarding remedying the damage was finally released. According to Willemssen's statement on behalf of the General Accounting Office, deficiencies in dealing with these Since the first cyber-attack in 1988, online viruses have proliferated through personal, organizational and government computers worldwide with devastating consequences. Concern was raised in 1999 regarding potential effects on the nation's poorly protected nuclear weapons, and further reports have highlighted flaws in the country's information infrastructure that put national security, public safety and personal privacy at risk. A 2014 report revealed the alarming frequency of …