Cyber attacks are the greatest threat to the United States after nuclear war

FBI exports stated cyber attacks created the greatest threat to the United States after nuclear war and weapons of mass destruction.

US experts highlighted that the economy, where almost everything important is linked to or controlled by computers is especially under the risk of being hacked.

Shawn Henry, assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, said the terrorist groups were aiming for an online 9/11, "inflicting the same kind of damage on our country, on all our countries, on all our networks, as they did in 2001."

Although an online attack of that scale has not yet happened in the country, experts say computer hacking is rapidly developing around the world as a weapon of war. Example of an above mentioned statement could be Russian hackers who damaged internet networks in Estonia and Georgia last year, or Palestinian ones attacking hundreds of Israeli websites in recent days.

Evan Kohlmann, an investigator with Global Terror Alert in Washington, said today it was already possible for underground Islamist leaders and militant organizations to recruit and communicate safely. Moreover, it is pointless to destroy those Jihadist websites, as “another pops up the next day." However, efforts are being put right now in order to code software more securely.

Financial cyber criminals are also creating difficulty to catch them as it has become very easy for them to move money all over the world using a simple SIM card. 

Christopher Painter, an FBI specialist stated one of the worst parts of the cyber security was that the companies that have been attacked mostly don’t know about it until they are informed about it.
 

Source: AFP