U.S. defense secretary warns of 'cyber Pearl Harbor "

With dramatic scenarios Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warns against hacker attacks on the United States - a preventive first strike against such a threat, he does not rule.Recently, the country had been subjected to a wave of attacks.

Should the U.S. be threatened by a cyber attack, not be afraid to the country, to launch a preemptive first strike , the U.S. Secretary of Defense said Leon Panetta in New York, according to the AFP news agency. The U.S. would be the danger of a "cyber Pearl Harbors' and were put increasingly become vulnerable to foreign computer hackers, who writes the New York Times . This would allow the energy and financial and government networks are destroyed in the United States.

Unlike a physical war, cyber attackers use digital weapons: An attack is that it is invaded illegally in a foreign computer system, for example in the programming of a power grid. This allows sensitive information abused, manipulated and destroyed.

To respond to such a threat can , the U.S. would have "to be prepared, the nation and our national interest to defend," said Panetta. However, it was not possible to prevent attacks on the Internet or on the internet simply by better defenses. A devastating attack was as if "cyber attacks simultaneously damage with physical attacks the infrastructure." The New York Times According to Panetta warned against a scenario of "cyber Pearl Harbor" in which even human life may be threatened.
Recently, an oil company 30,000 computers infected

The Defense Staff emphasized According to the newspaper, not Panetta drastic warnings are exaggerated. Recently, major U.S. financial institutions were hit by cyberattacks. Panetta also refer to an attack that infected 30,000 computers in which the oil company Saudi Aramco were.

"If we make an imminent threat of attack, the great physical harm or kill American citizens, would we need the option to be able to intervene under the direction of the President to defend the nation," said Panetta. " For these scenarios, the Department of Defense has developed effective operations to counter threats that affect our national interest. "

The minister was a former CIA chief, reportedly responsible for a cyber sabotage campaign against Iran's uranium enrichment program. Such a campaign, however, the U.S. was never confirmed.


Source: sueddeutsche.de