Can Cyberattacks On America Cause As Much Damage As 911 DID ?

Has anyone considered the possibilities that the next attack on the United States may be a cyberattack which causes more damage than a physical attack? It can be said without a doubt that the United States of America is more dependent on the internet for various reasons than any other country in the world. This dependency causes increased risks of vulnerabilities. The degree of damage which could potentially be caused by a cyber attack on America is exuberant.

If teenagers have been able to hack into NASA and other U.S government computers, the question arises as to exactly what will be the damage caused if a cyber attack on American occurs and is pulled off effectively? At this exact moment in time as you are reading these words, hackers are typing away on keyboards attempting to hack into computer networks everywhere. Hackers are masterminds at what they do and have reached headlines and top news stories again and again. Hypothetically, if professional hackers had to collaborate together and find a loop hole or backdoor into America's big internet sites, the probability of it being lethal exists.

The recent cyber attack on Georgia is a prime example of the lengths computer crimes are reaching. Hackers actually succeeded in taking over Georgia's parliament website and putting up an image that drew what they wanted to make appear, as overtly apparent as they could, parallels between the Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili and Hitler. This cyberattack has reached news headlines and extremely harsh ramifications have been suffered. It can thus be said that cybercrime is going mainstream and is on the increase to become "the norm." The question is asked and can be debated on whether a cyberattack is an act of war or not? It may make the world feel more at ease to know that America can command such huge quantities of bandwidth where it would be extremely difficult to overwhelm the servers.   

Experts in the field claim that it would be extremely challenging to bring down the web sites of key government security agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon. Despite the factor that it may be extremely difficult to do, the alarming factor is that it is still probable. It can also be reassuring to note that Scott Borg, who is a director of the United States Cyber Consequences Unit said, "We are vulnerable to more sophisticated attacks, but right now most of the people who want to do us harm don't have those capabilities."

The United States are aware of the security risks involved with regard to cyber attacks. They are also in the process of making provisions for any potential cyber attacks that may occur. Unfortunately with regard to the internet's openness and interconnectedness, it may open doors for hackers to do harm. The question has to be asked: Are hackers good enough and capable enough to cause extreme harm to the United States? It can thus be answered that only time will tell. 

Resources:

CNN article on students admitting they hacked NASA.
U.S. department of Homeland Security.
Georgia under cyber attack.
Article on: U.S. Military to Spend $4.4M on Network Monitoring Upgrades in Wake of Sophisticated Cyber Attacks.