Where We Live: The Internet "Kill Switch" And Cyber Security
The committee on Homeland Security has approved a cyber security bill
The committee on Homeland Security has approved a cyber security bill sponsored by Senator Lieberman, what has been called the “Internet Kill Switch Bill”.
The bill would put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of civilian and private sector networks, such as power companies and financial institutions.
On CNN last week Senator Joe Lieberman said that the government of China can disconnect parts of its internet in case of war, so we need to have that here too.
Other senators say that DHS already has too much on it’s plate – and that the Department of Defense should be in charge. But how much control should our government have over the web? What are the real chances of a cyber attack?
Coming up, we’ll hear the latest on the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act” and find out what powers the president has over the internet right now – and how that would change if this is enacted.
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The threat of a catastrophic cyber attack is real. It is not a matter of “if” an attack will happen; rather it is a matter of “when.”
Comments
Listener Email from Howard
Having an internet kill switch from a technical perspective is a joke. The internet is nothing more than a bunch of routers and wires. The net is composed of multiple redundant pathes so shutting off a port or shutting off a router accomplishes nothing.
What has to happen is three things.
1. The operating sytems need to be less porus which falls on the shoulders of software firms.
2. Strong encryption needs to be used so that intercepting data yields nothing.
3. People need to become net savy. They need to keep up with software patches. Use encryption and secure their home wireless accesspoints. Also people need to understand the passwords do matter.
4. You will get fished or hacked. Its knowing how to respond.
Listener Email from Don
I don’t know if this was brought up, if there were to be a war, don’t you think China or some other country would have planted millions of virus’ in personal computers already, then we would destroy our own internet without even knowing it. If that was in all our computers prior to, wouldn’t it be prudent to have the ability to shut down the internet if the attack comes from within?
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