In a recent announcement the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it will scan Internet Traffic in an attempt to collect secret information to pass on to Internet security personnel holding top secret clearance. Their goal? Protection.
The government currently has an online security system in place that already scans certain online traffic that goes into and out of defense contractors. This plan will now be expanded to include scanning more online private and civilian Internet traffic.
Thus, employees that work in certain sectors including banks, in certain transportation companies and in utilities, will now have their surfing online and web e-mail scanned to help protect against attacks from hackers and other online agents that mean to do the organizations harm.
This is due to an executive order by the White House and intelligence agents. Spy chiefs in charge of Internet security announced that cyberattacks are a primary concern for U.S. intelligence, of more concern in some cases than terrorism, and therefore a threat to national security.
How The Mission Will Play Out
According to federal officials, DHS will be key for helping to track and look out for emails in the public sector, and other intelligence collecting particularly from oversees. The information gathered will not be personal data, but only a collection of information gathered for purposes of safety and security.
Eavesdropping has long been a concern of many private citizens, but the agency assures consumers its goal is not to identify individuals, but only to protect organizations and agents from cyber-attacks, and to protect private organizations from threats from hackers and terrorist attacks that may come in the way of such attacks.
According to the report, everyone may be at risk. They are looking for any type of malicious agents including software, and the source of such programs. They would need data including the IP addresses from which such programs were generated to help put a stop to such programs. Fears continue to grow regarding the nature of a cyber-attack, and how widespread it may be. Fortunately the government is enacting measures to protect private and public industries from such an attack.
Still, there are some private concerns about other intentions the government may have about rolling out a comprehensive package. Some claim that there are techniques embedded in monitoring software used by government agencies that allow officials to inspect email and other transmissions, causing privacy concerns.
However, the government insists they will not violate consumer’s privacy, as their primary concern is providing protection for consumers, not taking protections away from consumers.
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