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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday December 28 2016, @05:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the blatantly-obvious-is-hard-to-comprehend dept.

John Arquilla at ACM writes:

What a pity that senior leaders in the American government and intelligence community have decided to play political football with the alleged Russian hacks of John Podesta's and other Democrats' emails. By using these intrusions to gin up fears about the "integrity" of the electoral process—which is already befouled by the focus on finding and spreading dirt on the opposition—the real story is being neglected. And what is that real story? It is that, despite more than two decades of consistent public warnings that have reached the highest levels of government, cybersecurity throughout much of the world is in a shameful state of unpreparedness.

Take the United States, for example. Since the mid-1990s, there have been approximately 200 cybersecurity bills brought before Congress. Only one has passed, quite recently at that, and it only calls for voluntary information-sharing about cyber incidents. Legislation aside, there have also been several government-sponsored commissions and top-level exercises focused on understanding and illuminating the cyber threat. Each of these has signaled that "the red light is flashing;" that is, American cybersecurity is in very poor shape. Indeed, former cyber czar Richard Clarke and Robert Knake, in their book, Cyber War, list the U.S. as having the poorest cyber defenses among the leading developed countries.

TL;DR: The lesson(s) are: we must improve defenses, better use of strong encryption, and don't wait for government policy to protect you.

Previously:
Obama Orders Sweeping Review of International Hacking Tied to U.S. Elections
How Hackers Broke into John Podesta and Colin Powell's Gmail Accounts


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Arik on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:44AM

    by Arik (4543) on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:44AM (#446965) Journal
    Dude what bubble are you living in?

    This is utter insanity. First off it's clear 'the Russians' did not 'hack' the emails, they were leaked. Leaked. Likely leaked by an insider who was shocked and ashamed at how corruptly the DNC was operating. This is painfully obvious even if all you look at are the official words intended to point you the other way, if you'll only read the words carefully.

    Second, what if they had 'hacked' them? We're supposed to be angry at the Russians because they told us the truth? The same truth our government and representatives conspired to keep from us?

    What kind of fantasy world do you live in where that would make any sense? If the Russians actually had any role in exposing this then we the people owe them a big thank you.

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    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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