Cyber Terror

Cyber terror is not science fiction or wild speculation. It is a risk recognized by the U.S. Congress in the enactment of the Federal Information Security Management Act or FISMA. The act orders the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish information security policies for all federal agencies and to monitor compliance. FISMA also orders the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop standards and guidelines to enable federal agencies to demonstrate compliance with policies established by the Office of Management and Budget.

Challenges

Technical

Government computer systems are continually under attack due to the importance of the information they protect. In response to this threat, IT personnel spend countless hours patching never ending system vulnerabilities and updating antivirus blacklists. Unfortunately, undiscovered system vulnerabilities are a fact of life in the technology industry. Criminals and terrorists are leveraging reactionary security models quite successfully, often times achieving objectives before personnel are able to react. Criminals have the advantage of broad attack surfaces with many attack vectors to choose from, success in one avenue often leads to a domino effect resulting in serious system compromise.

Financial

According to the Defense Department, in 2008 360 million attempts were made to breach its computer networks. It also reported that the Pentagon spent $100 million in the past six months to repair damage done by hackers, most of whom work from Russia and China, it is claimed. In early April the Wall Street Journal reported that hackers had penetrated the national electricity grid and even the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighters program. President Obama stated that in the past two years, cybercrime had cost Americans more than $8 billion (£5 billion). In one attack last year, he said, thieves used stolen credit card information to steal millions of dollars from 130 cash machines in 49 cities worldwide — in only 30 minutes. According to Army Brig. Gen. John Davis, deputy commander for network operations "It would be nice to spend that money proactively ... rather than fixing things after the fact."

Winning The Battle

Rather than providing warnings after an infiltration succeeds, BluePoint Security stops attackers before they gain access to sensitive systems. Our new offensive approach to security mitigates targeted attacks by providing global network situational awareness. BluePoint Security represents the next generation of technology needed to combat 21st century criminals. National integrity is at stake on a daily basis, proactively preventing nation-state sponsored attacks is critical to guard mission critical infrastructure.