Free The Merchant of Secrets by Caroline Lowther Page B

a dangerous policy  as what kind of cybercrime would constitute an “act of war” had not yet been
defined  and was left wide open for interpretation.  The President
needn’t explicitly inform Congress anymore before taking action that in every
literal aspect was the equivalent of declaring war.  Greatly flawed as the
policy was though, many believed it was in the best interest of our national
security. 
     
    Cyber-attacks in 2010 grew at the shocking rate of about
50% over the prior year, and were projected to be the greatest threat was to
our national defense with China being the primary source of the attacks.
Beijing brushed aside any suggestion that they were attacking American targets
and any U.S. attempts to hold Beijing accountable were met with Beijing’s
attempt to  redirect  the blame  onto rogue groups within China
or groups they claimed were “pretending” to be Chinese. This was ludicrous of
course. Our analysts regard Beijing’s gaming of the issue as nonsense from a
government that sponsors cyber espionage against the U.S.. and builds spy schools to train more cyber attackers
for the future.  Whereas rogue groups of hackers typically break into
banks or other easy targets for monetary incentive, the billions of attacks we
receive each month were too numerous, too sophisticated and required too much
equipment to have been launched without the backing of an entire government.
     
     As traditional intelligence gathering techniques
were gradually superseded by high tech alternatives our enemy’s inducements to
hack our Top Secret networks multiplied dramatically. Foreign intelligence
agencies have changed the way they attack US military information systems;
instead of going after government networks as they did just a few years ago
they refocused their efforts to the companies that supply material and services
to the government, believing that the major defense contractors don’t safeguard
their networks as carefully as the government agencies like the CIA, the FBI
and the DIA. They believe that the private sector is more lax about security
than the government and is therefore an easier target.
     
    The increasing use of drones controlled remotely by
pilots in the U.S. invited even more risk.  American drones could be
reprogrammed to attack friendly targets even within our own country unless the
pilots on the ground catch them in time and destroy the unmanned vehicles
before they caused harm.  Incidents of illegal access to the networks were
increasing at an alarming rate.  Although  defense contractors
 and government agencies  stand  guardian over these networks
 while the oblivious  American public sleeps, the live streaming
video from the  drones in flight  back down to the operational
facilities  in the U.S. are sometimes accessed by groups  hostile to
Americans.
     
    Congress and The Senate had been too slow to recognize the
reality of 21 st century warfare, and now General X was trying to
package that reality in non-technical, layman’s terms, and deliver it to the
President. 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 13
      
    When I arrived back at the office Todd again immediately summoned
me to the security department and led me to a conference room where six men
were sitting around a table. He told me to have a seat but I declined and chose
to remain standing with my back against the wall scanning the six faces, when
suddenly I recognized the face of Dave Jones who was sitting next to
Todd.  At first he seemed oddly amiable like someone you might trust to
marry your sister without any hint of the cold, calculating monster he had
proven himself to be.  I knew right away I was in big trouble.
Perspiration began to gather on my forehead as the blood started to drain from
my face. Of the six men at the table four of them were peering at me simultaneously  like  onlookers to a show or
 a crowd gathered for an execution or something.  I knew the amiable
face of the murderous Jones