US intelligence chiefs warn of new data manipulation cyber threat

In 2015, US director of national intelligence James Clapper, backed by National Security Agency director Admiral Michael Rogers, warned Congress that the next phase of escalating online data theft is likely to involve manipulating digital information. Clapper and Rogers viewed this type of attack as more likely than a catastrophic event of digitally triggered damage to physical infrastructure. The pair believed that manipulating and deleting data would compromise data integrity and undermine confidence, jeopardising US military situational awareness. With events such as the discover of Stuxnet, the Edward Snowden revelations, and the data breach at the Office of Personnel Management in mind, Rogers went on to argue for new international norms that would prohibit extracting mass personally identifiable data and data destruction as a national practice. 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/10/cyber-threat-data-manipulation-us-intelligence-chief

Writer: Spencer Ackerman
Publication: Guardian