Last year, a worrisome security breach was observed. Both Russian and Chinese hackers reportedly infiltrated US President’s communication channels soliciting considerable anxiety amongst the security officials. According to the New York Times, these cyber assailants successfully penetrated the email archives of key individuals within the White House. The individuals targeted were prominently those who held frequent correspondence with President Obama. However, it was a sigh of relief to learn that America’s highly classified data remained untouched, ensuring a potential catastrophe was avoided.
Even though these hackers had some success, they seemingly didn’t infiltrate the stringently monitored servers that manage the constant flow of messages from President Obama’s BlackBerry, carried persistently by him or one of his aides. The United States has a rich history of rebuking China over allegations of economic and military espionage. This contentious history reached its peak when the US Department of Justice charged a Chinese military unit with espionage. There was also an alarming incident where the Chinese were accused of pilfering patient records from US hospitals.
President Obama has always spotlighted the crucial need for bolstering cyber intelligence gathering among relevant US agencies. Relating to this latest hacking incident, it was concluded that tracing the Russian hackers and their activities proved challenging. Similar cases such as the infamous attack on Sony, allegedly orchestrated by North Korean hackers, underline that cyber warfare can be considered as a daunting new phase of international conflicts.
In a separate report, Fox News highlights that the US and the White House are no strangers to such threats and receive innumerable ones on an everyday basis. Hence, they have adopted a relatively pragmatic attitude towards these issues.
The US Pentagon, acknowledging the importance of cybersecurity, has a specific unit dedicated to addressing these cyber issues. It remains to be seen if and how the US will respond to this latest cyber assault.
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