Cybersecurity threat posed by a terrorist group Essay

Cybersecurity threat posed by a terrorist group - Essay Example Though sparse cyber attacks only cause annoyance, the present situation is that Australia is facing considerable degree of such attacks that create fear in the minds of people, and evidently, the government is startled by the pace at which these miscreants get access to nation’s secrets breaking the barriers erected by the government and various companies. Considering the fact that nations like China and US have already taken stringent steps to prevent any cyber attacks on them, and also to utilize cyber attack as a positive warfare, it is highly necessary to adopt policies at the earliest to prevent such further attacks on Australia, especially when there is a rise in the attacks. The solution to the problem can be identified in the steps taken by America and Japan on the face of cyber terrorism. One step is to have a separate department of defense that is solely responsible for protecting categorized government departments, defense installations, and nuclear technology from cyber attacks. The second step is to have an agency that monitors the cyber activities of nationally important sectors and companies using sensors in the networks. This will help identify cyber attacks and take effective steps before the systems are attacked and information is stolen. Thirdly and most importantly, there should be a national program that works in collaboration with all the ISPs. It should be made mandatory for the ISPs to identify the already compromised computers and direct such customers to the agency for removal of the malware. This is very necessary as most of the time, the compromised computers are used by attackers to commit crimes. Identifying such remotely controlled computers is the first step in preventing cyber attacks. Background Nations throughout the world including US are struggling to save their cyber sphere from the cyber attacks. The factor that makes things worse in the cyber world is that the terrorists get a chance to operate from other nations o r geographic areas, thus making the arrest and punishment of terrorists a difficult task. According to Taipei Times (31 May 2011) records, Australia is one of the most targeted nations in the world. The companies, government departments, and persons that came under cyber attack in the recent past range from the Australian parliament, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith, Japanese conglomerate Sony, Woodside petroleum of Australia, to mention but a few. Ironically, Chinese intelligence agencies are suspected by many nations and companies for such attacks. Anyway, according to McClelland, the Australian Attorney general, â€Å"it is better to deal with the threat, to address the vulnerability.† (Taipei Times, 31 May 2011). According to reports, there were 400 cyber attacks on the Australian government networks in the past year; a number too high to ignore. In addition, the Director General of the Australian Security Intelligence Org anization David Irvine (cited Staff Writers, Energy Daily, 30 May 2011), points out that Australia experiences constant cyber efforts to steal the nation’s secrets. In the opinion of Irvine, the cyber terrorists not only try to steal the nation’s secrets, but they also aim critical national industries and infrastructures. This claim is substantiated by the fact that Australian miners are vehemently targeted by terrorists. Thus, it becomes evident that it is high time to address the issue. In fact, Australian government has already taken a few steps in this regard, though not so effective. One such step is the