Homeland Security Challenges
There are numerous challenges emerging in homeland security. In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges is how the Internet is used. The Internet is being used by terrorist groups worldwide to spread their propaganda. These groups are using ungoverned Internet space to disseminate training material and poisonous propaganda to attract and lure individuals from around the world to their cause. They encourage these individuals to commit acts of violence in their own communities. These terror groups have used the Internet to provide these individuals vital training and information in the privacy of their own residence. With the Internet, these individuals no longer must travel out of country to obtain the training.
With our use of the
Internet comes social media. Social media has become a critical tool and communication medium for terror groups to exploit, for example, ISIL has disseminated detailed photographs and videos of horror to the Internet in a matter of seconds. The Internet has been able to spread their message of radicalization faster than we could have ever imagined.
We face cyber threats/ attacks from state-sponsored hackers, hackers for hire and terrorists. These individuals use sophisticated cyber threats/ attacks to seek our states secrets, our technology, our trade secrets, seek to strike our critical infrastructure and to harm our economy. Malicious cyber activity can be measured by the amount of corporate data stolen (Yahoo’s data breach), personally identifiable information compromised (Target and Home Depot), or the remediation costs incurred by US victims.
Since the immergence of the smart phone, our society has become technologically driven. Since we have adapted to these modern forms of communication, so too have the terrorist. The use of message/password encryption has posed a challenge for homeland security. The FBI refers to message encryption as “Going Dark” and believes this can result in grave risks both in traditional criminal matters as well as in national security matters. Private companies, such as Apple, have refuse to assist law enforcement due to the companies’ belief of “customer privacy/rights.”
With our use of the
Internet comes social media. Social media has become a critical tool and communication medium for terror groups to exploit, for example, ISIL has disseminated detailed photographs and videos of horror to the Internet in a matter of seconds. The Internet has been able to spread their message of radicalization faster than we could have ever imagined.
We face cyber threats/ attacks from state-sponsored hackers, hackers for hire and terrorists. These individuals use sophisticated cyber threats/ attacks to seek our states secrets, our technology, our trade secrets, seek to strike our critical infrastructure and to harm our economy. Malicious cyber activity can be measured by the amount of corporate data stolen (Yahoo’s data breach), personally identifiable information compromised (Target and Home Depot), or the remediation costs incurred by US victims.
Since the immergence of the smart phone, our society has become technologically driven. Since we have adapted to these modern forms of communication, so too have the terrorist. The use of message/password encryption has posed a challenge for homeland security. The FBI refers to message encryption as “Going Dark” and believes this can result in grave risks both in traditional criminal matters as well as in national security matters. Private companies, such as Apple, have refuse to assist law enforcement due to the companies’ belief of “customer privacy/rights.”