OPINION:
With all the attention paid to hacking these days, real or imagined for convenient political purposes, there is one threat that is all too serious and growing. The threat of a cyber attack against a nuclear facility that causes an uncontrolled reaction and eventual meltdown, released enormous amounts of radiation and causing mass casualties. In other words, a weapon of mass destruction.
Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a Security Council meeting that extremists and “vicious non-state groups” are actively seeking weapons of mass destruction “and these weapons are increasingly accessible.” Non-state actors can already create mass disruption using cyber technologies - and hacking a nuclear plant would be a “nightmare scenario,” reports the Associated Press.
If the Obama administration can’t even protect personal data of millions of government employees from a Chinese, Iranian, Russian, or North Korean hack, what confidence can we have that our most high-profile targets are safe from cyber intrusion? I for one, have no faith in our federal government to protect nuclear facilities after the massive incompetence we have seen over the last eight years from this presidency. It’s almost if they wanted the cyber floodgates to be opened, just like our borders.
Cyber is one area the next administration better get hold of on day one. I for one am tired of seeing our military technology ripped off at will and wondering if all it takes to bring down the country is a few guys in a basement with a computer.
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