EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS — Because the cyber menace atmosphere grows extra complicated and daunting by the day, the U.S. intelligence group is racing to bolster cybersecurity defenses on the authorities degree, whereas additionally working with native officers to safeguard the nation’s vital infrastructure – its water techniques, electrical grids, communications networks and extra. The latter effort often is the more durable half, on condition that consultants say many U.S. infrastructure entities have dangerously skinny cyber defenses. And all too typically, the safety of those techniques is simply as robust as their weakest, most permeable hyperlinks.
The most recent main episode concerned the breach of high telecommunications firms by Chinese language hackers, which U.S. officers imagine was aimed toward accessing nationwide safety info. Officers stated earlier this month that a bunch of hackers often called Salt Hurricane, allegedly linked to Chinese language intelligence, had penetrated the networks of AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Applied sciences — three of the most important U.S. web service suppliers. Investigators imagine the hackers have been concentrating on wiretap warrant requests for federal surveillance info.
