Homeland Security seeks cyber counterattack system

The internet is a tool that mostly everybody comes into contact on a daily basis, some more than others. Knowledge of the internet can be useful at times, but potentially dangerous if in the wrong hands. U.S. Homeland Security's Chief Secretary, Michael Chertoff would like to see an increase in the amount of investments put toward government computer networks. The potential of a cyber attack to the U.S. is something that should not be overlooked. The system "Einstein" that protects the U.S. government networks has slowly evolved in to what will be "Einstein 3.0", which Chertoff says will, "would literally, like an anti-aircraft weapon, shoot down an attack before it hits its target." Protecting government networks today is a very important factor on keeping the U.S. up and running. A potential leak of information to, terrorist organizations or raging lobbyists would not be good. However good this protection system may sounds, Chertoff says he wants to be careful not to make the public internet users feel pressured by the government. The Internet has been such a wild and independent part of this world, it should not be so easily tapped by the government. Another factor of Chertoff's proposal, was to work with businesses and help protect them also.
In my opinion, however domestic this issue may sound, it is entirely a global problem that effects many organizations, governments, and the public alike. Having security on the internet, is like a fence around your home. Risks in this part of the global society are very high and risky. When you think about what kind of information you put on your computer, you have to also take into consideration who can actually look at this information. Suppose you put your credit card information into a small online site to buy a foreign CD, many people don't fully understand the risks of this. The same goes for national governments, the type of information that people can access from a computer is almost limitless with the right kind of knowledge of networks and such. Like the James Bond film "GoldenEye" when the Russian computer guy just so easily hacks into the CIA page. This relation might not seem so serious, but there are some people that can do similar kinds of things.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/04/chertoff.cyber.security/index.html
Thomas Baker, 11:21 pm October 9th, 2008.