FCC: Cybersecurity Is Crucial for America’s Future
Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said Wednesday that failing to meet the “challenges” of cybersecurity will mean the U.S. will “pay the price in the form of diminished safety, lost privacy, lost jobs and financial vulnerability — billions of dollars potentially lost to digital criminals.”
The FCC chair called on Internet users, providers and policymakers to address multiple “cyber threats,” including botnet attacks, domain name fraud and IP hijacking.
Botnet Attacks
In a botnet operation, one computer can control millions of other computers via software called “malware” downloaded unbeknownst to the user. Those computers can then be directed to visit a specific website, overloading it with traffic in what’s called a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. Botnet attacks can be devastating to the average consumer, said Genachowski.
The FCC is working to prevent them by teaching Internet users about botnets and the risk they present. Genachowski called on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to form a voluntary “industry-wide code of conduct” to help educate customers on identifying botnet attacks and on how to handle them.
Genachowski said such an ISP-sponsored program must be done “in a way that doesn’t compromise users’ privacy.”
Traffic Highjacking
The second form of cyberattack the FCC has its eye on is IP hijacking. According to Genachowski, there’s a weakness in the way the Internet was built that nefarious types can exploit, causing traffic to be redirected through a network it wouldn’t normally encounter.
“The Internet is a network of networks,” said Genachowski. “Connectivity between these networks is based on an implicit trust that is the Internet’s biggest strength, but can also be a major weakness.”
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