The importance of cultivating sources and gathering intelligence can't be understated when it comes to national security. Information gathered by federal agencies is used to thwart attacks and ensure success for military campaigns.
For these reasons and others experts are calling on the U.S. government to devote a segment of the far-flung intelligence community to focus on Internet security. Through similar methods, the government may be able to identify and prevent cyber attacks against the nation's networks, according to a new report from the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
The INSA said the implications of cyber attacks have become much more serious than threats to finances and intellectual property. As the Stuxnet worm demonstrated, a cyber attack can have major effects on the physical infrastructure of a nation.
"The impact has increased in magnitude, and the potential for catastrophic collapse of a company has grown," the report stated, according to the Associated Press.
INSA concluded that, with cyber intelligence as a focus, federal officials can better assess and mitigate the risks presented by cyber attacks. That, the report stated, is a much better course of action than the current "patch and pray procedures," where incidents are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
"Many of the report's observations echo sentiments expressed by Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security officials who have been struggling to improve information sharing between the government and key businesses," the AP reported.
Research firm Gartner addressed the seriousness of cyber attacks in a report published late last year. According to the company, it believed that a member of the G20 nations, among the most powerful countries in the world, would be greatly affected by a cyber attack by 2015.
The incident, according to the report, will seriously harm the infrastructure of the country and carry long-term implications.