老澳门开奖结果

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When members of Congress talk cybersecurity, it doesn鈥檛 take long for the discussion to turn apocalyptic. The Feb. 27 meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee was no different when Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Gen. Keith Alexander, retiring director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and commander of United States Cyber Command, to describe in 30 seconds what a major cyberattack could do to the United States.

鈥淚 think they could shut down the power in the Northeast,鈥� Gen. Alexander responded. 鈥淪hut down the New York stock exchange 鈥� shut down some of our government networks 鈥� impact our transportation areas 鈥� water supplies, they could do damage to that.鈥� If something like this occurred, according to Alexander, the wreckage could include thousands of dead Americans and trillions of dollars in damage.

鈥淥n the cyber front, you鈥檝e described a Pearl Harbor on steroids,鈥� Graham replied. Alexander did not disagree.

While there are legitimate cyberthreats in the world, these melodramatic hypotheticals don鈥檛 help real cyberdefense and deterrence. Instead they serve only to create a sense of urgency around passing rash and overreaching laws that undermine Americans鈥� privacy even more 鈥� a tall task after whistle-blower Edward Snowden鈥檚 revelations. (Full disclosure: The 老澳门开奖结果, for which I work, represents Snowden.)

Should you panic or lose sleep over the prospects of a cyber鈥揥orld War III? No. Don鈥檛 unplug and move to a cabin in the woods just yet.

To continue reading 鈥淐yberalarmism鈥檚 Threat to Privacy,鈥� click .