On the heels of Sony’s hack and Obama’s renewed push for cybersecurity legislation, national security personalities are decrying the stability of U.S. systems.
Retired Gen. Keith Alexander, former head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, took to ABC’s “This Week” to say that another cyberattack is “a problem we’re not ready for.”
“The Sony attack clearly highlights that we’re not ready,” said Alexander.
He added that the successful hack “shows the way we’re protecting our networks, it’s not working.”
Asked whether the possibility of a serious attack still “keeps you up at night,” Alexander replied that “it sure does.”
He expressed support for Obama’s recently-unveiled cybersecurity proposals, which have received bipartisan support despite the concerns of privacy experts. One of the president’s measures would ease “information sharing” between private companies and the government, which some fear will be tantamount to giving companies a free pass to distribute private user information to government agencies.
Alexander suggested that a “nation state” was responsible for the Sony hack, and the FBI has pointed the finger at North Korea. But private experts remain skeptical that such a sophisticated attack could have been pulled off by the notoriously low-tech country.
Watch the clip below via ABC, beginning shortly after the 5 minute mark:
