Feds Need to Start Thinking Like Hackers

The government should and will continue to invest billions of dollars annually in protecting federal networks, despite economic uncertainty, according to administration officials. Maybe even because of economic uncertainty, funding will be retained. Outsiders increasingly are cribbing online identities to crack open the control systems operating the nation's stock markets, hospital intake systems and other critical infrastructure, or at least they are trying. Beyond intimidation, there's a financial incentive to pocket a U.S. official's computer credentials. On Christmas Day 2011, in a scene out of Robin Hood, hackers purporting to be Anons, retrieved credit card data from subscribers--federal customers included--to security intelligence provider Stratfor to make charitable donations.