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Do you recall the recent hacking attack that occurred to Sony a few months back? The ordeal brought to light the need for a reliable security system against hackers. As a result, the Obama administration has just recently announced that there will be a new security agency initiated due to the number of high-profile cyber attacks that have occurred to various companies in the U.S. This new program will be called the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center or the CTIIC, which will be modeled on the National Counter-terrorism Center that is located at the Wilson Center in Washington.
While there are already agencies in the U.S. Government that work to combat hackers such as the Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, the NSA, and the FBI, there are no agencies that currently coordinates and shares threats. The CTIIC has been created in the hopes to fill these current gaps in security. President Obama recently said in his State of the Union address, “we need to meet the evolving threat of cyber-attacks better, combat identity theft, and protect our children’s information.” The seriousness of the threat of cyber attacks is clear just from the number of significant attacks that have been made against companies such as Sony Pictures, Home Depot, Anthem Inc., Target, and more.
In the case of the hackers that targeted Anthem Inc., the hackers were able to access the personal information of over 80 million customers. Also, according to the company, the hackers were able to remain in the system for more than a month before a problem was even detected. This is unfortunate news, especially since Anthem Inc. is the second largest U.S. health insurer and such a large company with resources should be able to protect its information and the information of customers from cyber attacks. Another thing that will set apart the CTIIC from other current agencies is that fact that the CTIIC will rely more on private companies for their information as opposed to only what the other intelligence agencies can come up with. The hope is these data security best practices can help to combat cyber-attacks from multiple angles will help.
