National Cybersecurity Protection and the Role of CISA

National Cyberthreats

The potential challenges to the United States’ cyberspace come in various forms and one of them results from cybercriminals. It is important to note that cyber-related crimes can only be conducted with the help of ICT gadgets, which can act as instruments of crime and targets at the same time. Examples of such malicious behavior include designing and sharing malware to destroy data, network activities, or hack systems to steal information (Mok, 2017). Moreover, traditional crimes have been made easy with the help of the internet because thieves do not have to be at the scene of a crime physically to steal. The majority of cybercrimes in the United States which are usually fraud cases are financially motivated and are notably conducted by Russian and Chinese criminal groups. Additionally, the nature of the internet world makes it difficult to know if the perpetrators are within the country or from other parts of the world.

State and state-sponsored threats are the other group of national security challenges facing the U.S. This is a common illegal activity between governments normally in a conflict where one country sponsors a criminal group to penetrate the other nation’s information network, in this case, America for technological, diplomatic, political, or commercial advantage. Additionally, the enemy’s main target is always defense, energy, telecommunications, and financial industries (Mok, 2017). The impacts of these state-sponsored cyber-attacks vary depending on the intentions. Although the U.S. government continues to put in place various measures such as the encryption of its data, the country still continues to face cyber-threats.

The other source of cyber-threat comes from terrorists who unlike cybercriminals and state-sponsored cyber-attackers are ready to take responsibility for their actions. These groups have sworn to constantly damage America’s cyberspace and all related interests. Of all established countries in America and Europe, the U.S faces more cyber-terrorism threats (Mok, 2017). Moreover, there have been cases of bomb attacks that have been triggered remotely with the help of information technology. It is difficult to detect such devices since most of them are complex and homemade. Terrorists’ intentions are to cause havoc and they always use any cyber means possible to cause death and destruction in America.

Finally, there are groups of individuals known as hacktivists who use computers and related technology to convey civil disobedience. These internal criminals who masquerade in the name of activism are usually issue-focused and decentralized. These people who have a vigilante mentality identify a target who can be a politician with a bad history and then harm them in most cases by exposing their wrongdoings (Mok, 2017). Although most of hactivsits’ behavior are only disruptive in nature, there are those who have managed to cause long-lasting damages on their targets.

Vulnerabilities within the National Cyberspace

Vulnerabilities in cybersecurity are areas of weakness within the networks that can be exploited by adversaries. For instance, the ever-evolving range of devices and related technologies provide loop holes for both internal and external attackers. The existence of the “Internet of Things” provides opportunities for criminals who have the capability of causing serious physical damages to American citizens (Cristea, 2020). Moreover, the integration of ICT into different industries such as agriculture, mining, energy, and aviation has created the possibility of interference from hackers to tamper with related processes and devices, a problem that was not there before the internet. Several departments within the federal government are interconnected with the help of computer networks and this is a source of vulnerability since different sectors can be attacked by a single malware.

Additionally, the lack of properly trained and skilled personnel working within the federal government’s network system also places the country at risk. Most of the staff members particularly those working at the state and county levels do not understand the elements of cybersecurity and do not understand their responsibilities in minimizing threats. Consequently, national and international cybercriminals will always use such individuals as loopholes since they lack formal training in information security (Cristea, 2020). Continuous training on matters pertaining to information technology and protection of systems is imperative if the United States is to cope with developments in the cyber industry, particularly those associated with risks and vulnerabilities.

Finally, the presence of hacking resources such as tutorials all over the internet is also another source of vulnerability to the national government&r