“Shutting down government functions in a standoff over a physical wall on the Mexican border leaves the United States vulnerable to digital cyber attacks by Russia’s GRU, Russian-sponsored hacker groups, and other state-sponsored threat actors who have been using the cyber domain to attack us for decades,” warns international threat-assessment and cyber security authority Jeremy Samide, who is sought for his insights into the role Russia, Korea and China play in creating digital mayhem around the world.
“Government shutdown hampers U.S. defences against cyber attacks,” says Jeremy Samide, Stealthcare CEO. “Elected officials are completely out of touch when it comes to cyber security and the protection of its citizens.”
Samide, whose firm developed the Zero Day Live platform to detect and defang cyber attacks, continues, “The Government Shutdown is a perfect example of how U.S. elected officials are completely out-of-touch when it comes to cyber security, the protection of its citizens against cyber attacks, and the management of our national cyber security defences. The world is watching and laughing as government services grind to a halt including mission essential information technology (IT) services needed to keep our cyber defence systems performing effectively.
“At Stealthcare, our cyber security team is hearing plenty of chatter from hacker collectives aimed at capitalising on the government shutdown by probing our weaknesses. Be assured, as a result of the government shutdown, there has been a significant increase in counterintelligence gathering, as well as digital prodding and poking throughout our government systems.”
Emphasizes Samide, “Ironically, while we debate a physical barrier against ground invasions, no one is home at the U.S. government to sound the alarm over digital attacks. If this continues to be left unattended, the long-term effects will permeate our nation’s already aging infrastructure with more significant repercussions and disastrous consequences.”
Samide, has been outspoken about Russian meddling in the US 2016 election and lackluster response to it. “Russians didn’t use dead-drops, disappearing ink or Minox cameras of the 1980’s. This time they used our own cyber technology against us — including social media, cloud services and electronic voter tabulation.”
Samide is also quoted extensively on the impact of state-sponsored cyber threats in “North Korea the Country We Love to Hate” by economist Loretta Napoleoni and numerous articles.
Stealthcare, based in Cleveland, Los Angeles and Toronto, relies on artificial intelligence, machine learning and “tradecraft” to defend banks, healthcare industry clients, law firms, institutional financial managers, and public corporations.
