In Washington, President Trump’s wall (or lack thereof) seems to be the talk of the town. But the U.S. should have a different national security priority at the top of its list: cybersecurity.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that security group Area 1 had uncovered a long-running hacking campaign targeting, among others, the European Union’s network of secure diplomatic cables. That breach, which had been going on for three years, resembles other hacks carried out by China’s People’s Liberation Army and comes on the heels of revelations that China was responsible for hacking data held by Marriott, the federal Office of Personnel Management, and insurance companies.
The massive push to seize information would be alarming enough on its own, but recent reports on inadequate military cyberdefenses add additional concerns, pairing China’s aggressive hacking with an American failure to implement even basic security in sensitive military operations.
Although there are no reports that China attempted to breach military systems, an attempt to do so could have done serious damage. For example, a report by the Department of Defense Inspector General, made public Friday, reveals that if China had tried, they would likely have succeeded at hacking elements of ballistic missile defense systems. Simple security lapses left ballistic missile defense systems vulnerable, such as the failure to encrypt classified flash drives, install security cameras, stay up-to-date with flagged security issues, and put locks on computer servers.
[Also read: Facebook gave some companies access to users’ personal messages]
Although many of the details are redacted, the information included in the public version is deeply troubling. “The Army, Navy and [Missile Defense Agency] did not protect networks and systems that process, store and transmit [ballistic missile defense] technical information from unauthorized access and use,” it concludes.
The implications are pretty clear as the report notes that the security failings could result in the disclosure of “critical details that compromise the integrity, confidentiality and availability of [ballistic missile defense] technical information.” That “could allow U.S. adversaries to circumvent [ballistic missile defense] defenses capabilities, leaving the United States vulnerable to deadly missile attacks.”
For Chinese intelligence, which was clearly fishing for useful information, that would have been a gold mine.
Lapses in cybersecurity have real and serious consequences for the U.S. and its allies. The president should champion fixing them and mitigating a real national security threat rather than pursuing a vanity project like the border wall.
