China and possibly one or two other countries have the ability to shut down the US power grid and other critical infrastructure at the push of a button National Security Agency (NSA) Director Admiral Michael Rogers told Congress.
This can be achieved with a well-coordinated cyberattack, examples of which are visible even today, as malware originating from China in US public computer systems, "affecting the lives of all Americans."
Hackers have already infiltrated American public computer systems on behalf of China
"With the right cyberattack, important infrastructure that provides daily services to our citizens could be put out of operation. To date, we have been receiving reconnaissance attacks in order to identify vulnerabilities in our defenses," the American official said. "We believe that various countries are investing in this type of capabilities," he added.
According to a recent study, hackers working on behalf of the Chinese government have managed to penetrate public systems in the United States related to sectors such as electricity, water and fuel. According to the findings of the non-governmental organization “The Pew Internet and American Life Project”, based on estimates of technology experts, a catastrophic cyberattack, which would cause significant losses to the economy and human lives, could occur by 2025.
The admiral declined to name another candidate country, but it is generally believed that Russia has the ability to attack very effectively through cyberspace. He added that groups attempting to attack the United States through cyberspace are also active within the country.
"The question is when this will happen, not if it will happen," the NSA director concluded.
Anti-spyware software
Meanwhile, protecting citizens, not states, from cyberattacks is what Amnesty International is concerned about. In the wake of the scandal that erupted with the continuous revelations of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the uncontrolled spying activities of the secret services, Amnesty International has launched a new anti-espionage software on the Internet.
The Detekt program, which resulted from the collaboration of Amnesty International with other human rights organizations, serves as a detector of surveillance software that has invaded the computer without the user's knowledge.
Matthias Jön, a member of Amnesty International, pointed out in an interview with German Radio (Deutschlandfunk) that "Detekt is mainly intended for people who are really threatened, whose lives and those of their families are at risk because they are fighting for human rights on the ground and need the assistance of modern IT technologies. Therefore, it is good for them to have such software so that they can detect the existence of suspicious programs on their computers.".
Temporary protection tool
Matthias Jön admits that developers of surveillance software will attempt to overcome the obstacles posed by Detekt with more sophisticated programs, but he emphasizes, "this is the first step on our part to really do something against espionage, which contributes to the violation of human rights. Of course, we are afraid that companies that design such software will take countermeasures, but we believe that within the framework of the Open Source Community we will be able to react.".
Matthias Jön explains that a program like Detekt can only serve as a tool for warning and temporary protection of users. In the long term, he points out, states should impose restrictions on the export of spyware so that it does not end up in the hands of authoritarian regimes that do not respect the human rights of their citizens.
Source: zougla.gr
