(Newswire.net — November 21, 2014) — Not long after Homeland Security Department discovered a, believed to be Russian, ‘Trojan Horse’ dwelled inactive in systems that control US infrastructure, NSA warned Chinese and one or two other nations have capability of crippling American power grid through cyber-attacks.
US Navy Vice Admiral Michael S. Rogers, the top official at both the NSA and United States Cyber Command, warned Congress on Thursday that state sponsored hackers from abroad could harm US power grid, RT News reported.
NSA chief Rogers said it is only a “matter of when, but not if, we are going to se something dramatic.”
“We’re watching multiple nation states invest in this capability,” Rogers warned the committee, specifically naming only China as one of the countries considered to now have such power.
“All of that leads me to believe it is only a matter of when, not if, we are going to see something dramatic,” the NSA chief said.
Adm. Rogers said that the US government lacks sound policies for protecting its cyber infrastructure. Also, US have to immediately ensure foreign hackers don’t launch further attacks on American networks “without either party risking significant repercussions,” said Rogers.
“China’s economic cyber espionage … has grown exponentially in terms of volume and damage done to our nation’s economic future. The Chinese intelligence services that conduct these attacks have little to fear because we have no practical deterrents to that theft,” Adm. Rogers warned.
Referring to a cyber-espionage, NSA chief Rogers said, “The very fact that a nation state believes that they could do that without any problem or consequence is another very, very serious issue for us.”
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga), said any further delays in passing such a bill could have colossal implications. “If we wait another year, we are risking the economy of the United States,” Chambliss said.
US officials accused Russian and Chinese sponsored hackers group are behind series of cyber-attacks that hit US companies, White House, communications and infrastructure. Both countries firmly denied having anything to do with those cyber-attacks, accusing back that US is more active in area of cyber espionage.
All hell breaks lose when Edward Snowden leaked an information on NSA cyber-espionage activities in foreign countries, which US officials characterized as the act of treason ordered by other nation.
In his first remarks as NSA director, Adm. Rogers, however, stated that Snowden was most probably working on his own, believing in what he was doing.