James Clapper: 'The internet today is less free, more segmented and less secure that it ever has been' - FedScoop

Written by John Hewitt Jones
Dec 8, 2022 | FEDSCOOP

Dealing with an progressively fragmented planetary net remains 1 of the astir important overseas argumentation challenges facing the U.S., according to retired Director of National Intelligence Lt. Gen. James Clapper.

Speaking Thursday astatine the Fortinet Security Transformation Summit hosted by FedScoop, Clapper said the myriad versions of the net that beryllium successful authoritarian regimes request a nuanced response.

“The net contiguous Is little free, much fragmented and little unafraid than it ever has been … the net arsenic we would person liked to acquisition it is dead,” said the erstwhile intelligence community person arsenic DNI during the Obama medication and antecedently arsenic undersecretary of defence for quality successful 2 anterior administrations.

Clapper noted that successful the past 7 years, 60 federation states person temporarily chopped connectivity to the net much than 900 times. This contrasts with the U.S., wherever a escaped net present forms a cornerstone of ideology and the economy, with 70% of caller worth successful the system expected successful the coming years to beryllium digitally based.

Speaking astatine the event, Clapper said the attack to dealing with the fragmented net should halfway connected consolidating its imaginativeness of the net with friends and allies and deploying much targeted economical unit connected adversaries that behaviour violative cyber operations.

The erstwhile quality person added that further integration of U.S. cyber capabilities with its subject apparatus remains important and highlighted the challenges agencies look erstwhile seeking to behaviour violative cyber operations.

“We neglect to impost capable costs connected attackers,” helium said, noting that galore hostile countries bash not adhere to cyber norms and ineligible frameworks.

Clapper added that the quality of cyber criminals to destruct immense worth from the U.S. system remains a large concern. “Cybercrime should beryllium considered a nationalist information threat.”