14 DAY TRIAL // Cyberattacks should be taken more seriously by state representatives, in the opinion of Michael Chertoff, former secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security.
Once a judge on the United States Court of Appeals, Chertoff is now the managing principal of a private security consultancy called the Chertoff Group. He is known for being very aware of the destructive power of online technology, making a lot of investments, during his time at the DHS, in high-tech solutions against possible threats.
According to The Register, Chertoff's worries about threats against political and financial systems grow more and more, Estonia and Georgia representing a great example of countries kneeled by cyberattacks on their public institutions.
In a lecture held at the London School of Economics, the former state security representative said that "Cybercrime is probably the cutting edge of where we're going to be looking at threats in the future."
He also wanted to highlight the massive benefits drawn by terrorist organizations from the advancements in communications and money transfer technologies.
The collaboration between military and intelligence sectors in the U.S. has led to a decrease in the number of threats posed by terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Intercepted information was in most cases the factor that brought the success of missions carried out by the armed forces in terrorist related situations.
However, he said that in terms of cybercrimes and national defense, the country is still far away from being on top of the situation.
The Register quotes him as saying "The more and more technology is developing, the more we're getting very dangerous intrusions into our cyberspace."
All his life, Chertoff has been trying to make use of technology to aid the country's defence system. In 2005 he stated before the Homeland Security Subcommittee that “Another piece has to be stepped-up enforcement along the border, including better deployment and more efficient deployment of Border Patrol, use of technology to give us a better span of control over who's coming across the border.”