Here’s an idea: Rather than spending so much time and resources arbitrarily snooping on citizens without having any justifiable cause, perhaps the federal government should expend far more efforts trying to secure critically important records.
Hackers have seemingly hit everything, from big department stores and other companies to government agencies holding personnel records. As many as 14 million current and former civilian U.S. government employees had their personal information exposed to hackers, sources told The Associated Press last week. That estimate was revealed as part of an investigation into a massive hack of the federal Office of Personnel Management and was a far higher figure than the 4 million the Obama administration initially disclosed.
Rather than confront this vexing issue head-on, Congress nonsensically spent months arguing about whether to allow the National Security Agency to continue spy programs without virtually any checks.
Congress and President Barack Obama subsequently cut a deal that will mitigate the NSA’s program, but this issue should have been disposed of long ago. Then, the Senate on Friday blocked an attempt to advance cybersecurity legislation after Republicans tied the proposal to a controversial defense bill.
Meanwhile, legitimate threats — such as the country’s vulnerability to cyberterrorism and the threats to individuals posed by identity theft — have lingered.
Congress is in the midst of reviewing several cybersecurity-related bills, and several things are imperative. For one, businesses must be forced to come forth and share information about data breaches to give other businesses and government agencies the knowledge they need to better defend themselves. They should face stiff penalties otherwise.
Virtually everyone agrees that increasing cyber data sharing is essential to better protect the nation’s networks against hacking attacks that have hit major companies like Target and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In the attack on Sony, 38 million files were stolen and the company’s computer system was crippled. The hack was apparently retribution for Sony’s planned release of the movie The Interview, a satirical comedy that includes an assassination attempt against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. If that weren’t serious enough, the situation gravely escalated when the hackers posted a message threatening 9/11-type attacks on theaters screening the movie.
Considering what is at stake, it’s essential the federal government shore up its own cybersecurity efforts and work with private businesses to protect corporate networks and the sensitive data they contain.
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