FBI Agent Aristedes Mahairas who works for New York FBI’s Cyber Division has mapped out countries which prove as severe cyber threats to the United States. In a statement released on Monday, Mahairas alleged that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea will always be a cyber threat to the nation unless the Trump Administration takes stringent steps to deter the state-funded actors.
“Cyber operations can be relatively cheap but can prove extremely worrisome,” said Mahairas in an interview given while attending the Digital Business World Congress, in Madrid, Spain.
Very specifically, Aristedes marked out 4 nations most capable of launching cyber attacks which could cripple partially or entire critical infrastructure of America.
Out of them, Russia happens to the top nation which remains the most sophisticated and technically capable- hinting at the Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election.
The FBI agent believes that the basic objective of such nations in launching cyber attacks is to erode the confidence of the populace, not only in the institution, but in the values, its leaders, and most importantly in the ability to find the truth.
Educating the public on what such nations can do or have done, and what is prevailing in the current cyber landscape and what can be done in mitigating the attacks is the best the government can do at this point of time said Aristedes.
Note 1- The FBI agent has marked Russia as the top cyber adversary to America on the basis that the law enforcement agency has strong evidence that Vladimir Putin’s government somehow managed to influence the US 2016 Polls.
Note 2- Categorizing China as once noisy in attacks, but now subtle; Mahairas dug out the past of some nasty attacks launched by Chinese military where secrets on fighter jets, including the F-35 from Lockheed Martin, were stolen via digital attacks.
Note 3- Iran stands out at the number 3 position on the list of American cyber adversaries. And that’s due to the fact that Iranian national Behzad Mesri was found hacking into the network of HBO, leaking “Game of Thrones” scripts and demanding $6 million in ransom. FBI later found out that the attack was launched by the said Iranian citizen with full support from the government.
Note 4- While Kim Jong Un and his nation North Korea are preparing to meet Donald Trump on June 12th this year in Singapore, FBI still categorizes Kim and his Nation as one of the adversaries threatening the American Cyber Landscape- especially after FBI found evidence that North Korea was behind the Wannacry Ransomware Attack in May 2017.
The post FBI Agent maps out countries which are Cyber Threats to the United States appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.
June 04, 2018 at 09:24PM
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