Cyber threats are not anything new as far as the US is concerned. The history of cyber threats can be traced back to the late 1960s. It was 1969. A UCLA professor, Leonard Kleinrock, together with his student Charley Kline sent an electronic message, which was later identified as the first-ever electronic message. The message was sent to a Stanford Research Institute based programmer. The intended message was ‘login’, but the receiver system crashed just with the letters ‘lo’.
It hardly took two years after this incident to discover the first-ever virus by Robert Thomas, a Cambridge-based researcher.
Since then, the cyber security space has never been totally secure. In the current technologically advanced world, viruses are deadlier, increasingly invasive, and much harder to control. The techniques involved in cybercrimes are altering constantly and the need to develop secure methods is more important than ever. Focusing on the US, a notable cyberattack in recent times would be the one involving the United States Department of Justice.
The department in September 2021 sentenced Ghaleb Alaumary to about 11 years in prison. He has been accused of collaborating with North Korea to carry out a money-laundering drive. There has been an alarming increase in the number of cyber security threats in the US and across the globe, forcing the governing bodies to adapt innovative and time-specific security measures.
The US cybersecurity space is undergoing a turbulent period. Amidst these, the death of Allan Paller, a US cyber security pioneer on 9th November, is a huge setback to the nation. Allan Paller, a digital defense security veteran passed away at the age of 76 at SANS, a world-recognized cyber security establishment founded by him. The exact cause of his death is yet to be disclosed to the public.