The National Security Agency attempts to stay a step ahead of threats by occasionally using a software flaw to hack computers and online networks, but both privacy advocates and one of the agency’s top officials acknowledge the potential risks of keeping these security gaps secret.
NSA Deputy Director Rick Ledgett tells U.S. News the agency alerts tech companies about discovered gaps in their cybersecurity “more than 90 percent of the time,” while government officials at several agencies vet the merits of disclosure in the remaining instances.
This process involves questioning how many people would be affected should criminals or other adversaries learn how to exploit the weakness, he says.
“How difficult is it to use – is it something that requires a bank of supercomputers to use? Is it something anybody can use with a home computer?” he explains. “Is it a vulnerability that’s linked with critical infrastructure in the U.S. – things like hospitals and things like the government?” For the full article click here
from cyber security caucus http://ift.tt/1OKOY98
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