Cybersecurity Issues Cause Political Tension For The United States
PowerKee’s Bastion of Privacy #16
Cybersecurity has become a critical topic, especially in the circle of international politics. Recent data breaches that are targeted at the United States have become an issue of serious concern.
Cyber attacks are common across computer networks on the internet. The repeated attacks on cyber networks across the United States raised concern about the current state of cybersecurity systems.
The fact that these attacks survive for long periods before being identified suggests that the existing defense mechanisms may need to be upgraded or replaced. In the latest Bastion of Privacy release, we will be detailing the recent attacks, highlighting their implications, and exploring how privacy blockchains may provide a more secure foundation to build upon.
Increasing Rate Of Cyber Attacks Against The U.S.
Within 12 months, Microsoft disclosed 8 different nation-state-motivated hacks targeted at institutions that are critical to civil society. The most recent of these hacks is blamed on China and has affected over 60,000 known victims across the globe.
According to the reports, over 30,000 organizations in the U.S. were hit by the attack which exploited four vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Exchange Server email software. In the process, several networks of both government and commercial firms were breached. This allowed the hackers to gain access to the email accounts of their victims, and also install malware on their computers.
A similar attack that affected up to 18,000 hackers that are connected to IT solutions giant SolarWinds is still under investigation. In the case of the SolarWinds attack, the operation was stealth and lasted for several months before being detected. Russia was blamed for this attack, and the White House has said that it may respond to this attack in the coming weeks.
(Source: thehackernews.com)
Bilateral Relationship Deteriorates With Suspicion Over Cybersecurity
Both China and Russia have denied being involved in the data security breaches for which they have been blamed by the United States. A spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry suggests that blaming a particular nation for such events is a highly sensitive political issue. He stated that China as a nation firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber thefts in all forms.
Similarly, Russia denied state involvement in the SolarWinds hack for which it had been blamed by the United States. In a statement released by the embassy of Russia to the United States, a foreign spokesperson described the situation as “another unfounded attempt of the U.S. media to blame Russia for hacker attacks on U.S. governmental bodies”. He continued by noting that malicious activities in the information space contradict the principles of the Russian foreign policy, national interests, and understanding of interstate relations.
The already fragile relationship between the United States and both nations suspected has fallen to new lows. The White House has threatened retaliation, which is expected to come in the form of sanctions. All the signals being generated by the ongoing feud suggest that newer ways of tackling security issues across the internet need to be explored. Rather than relying on corrective measures, creating a formidable defense that is extremely difficult to penetrate would provide a more secure foundation to build upon.
Privacy Protocols as a More Secure Foundation
When it comes to value and data transfer, blockchain solutions like PowerKee provide strong security assurances. Built on the robust principles of decentralization and anonymity, PowerKee makes it extremely difficult and expensive to carry out data breaching exercises.
Data stored on the PowerKee blockchain is encrypted, making it meaningless to a successful attacker. The incentive of embarking on such an exercise is taken away right from the beginning.
While PowerKee primarily focuses on value transfer, exploring similar solutions where privacy is engrained in the protocol layer are an attractive alternative. While they may not be initially feasible to cater to the widespread world of computing, utilizing them for value and sensitive data would certainly be a great start.
About PowerKee
PowerKee is a cryptocurrency network that makes privacy easy. Users can transact cheaply and instantly while maintaining anonymity. The PowerKee protocol uses a mixture of zero-knowledge proofs and coin mixing to provide strong privacy assurances to its users.
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