Former NSA official: Expect increase in cyberattacks on US government

Expect increase in cyber attacks on US government

Former NSA Inspector General Joel Brenner explains how hackers are expanding their operations

The possibility of Russian hackers infiltrating White House computers is raising concerns over the reach of cyber spies in the U.S.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday they had detected some “activity of concern” on their network. “The Administration is continuing to learn all we can about where those activities originated and what methods are associated with those activities.” It’s believed the hackers were only able to reach unclassified networks.

Fox News National Security Analyst KT McFarland spoke to former NSA Inspector General Joel Brenner about the recent attack.

“All national leaders know they are targets of espionage … [though] the Russians have done this in a noisy way that lets us find that they’ve done it. If they are really trying to steal important information from White House, they are into different networks than this particular unclassified one,” said Brenner.

This attack is raising renewed questions over how secure America’s top assets are nationwide.

The Identity Theft Resource Center has identified 636 data breaches so far this year. This is up from 614 last year and 473 in 2012.

“What they [hackers] have done now is call attention to the fact that we, the Russians are doing this to you and to the fact our networks are vulnerable … there is a message there,” said Brenner. “They are making us think hard about the vulnerability of our networks.”

Brenner, author of “Glass Houses: Privacy, Secrecy, and Cyber Insecurity in a Transparent World” believes the U.S. should have never linked government systems with the Internet. “It has no business being run on the same channel that your 16-year-old surfs the web on … that’s the same channel we are running critical infrastructure on in many respects.”

He says to expect an increase in potential attacks by hackers.

“Yes, this is not new what’s going on. What’s new is how much attention it’s finally getting from the American public.”