WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In the past year, a number of US government agencies have been hacked, compromising the personal data of millions of Americans. Major data breaches have been reported at the Internal Revenue Service, the Office of Personnel Management, and the State Department.
“It is in inherent responsibility of government, even as we are assimilating data from our citizens… to make sure it is protected,” Michael Rogers said in a speech to the 2015 Geospatial Intelligence Symposium.
Rogers commented that the US government acknowledges a “requirement… to protect the data our citizens are sharing with us.”
Rogers stated he is "very concerned" about the security of US critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.
"Other nations are paying great attention to it [US critical infrastructure] and I am concerned as to why they are doing so," he said.
Just found a copy of a cartoon I did for @theprospect about NSA surveillance … in 2002. cc @ggreenwald pic.twitter.com/Xo5Xwt4B9B
— Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) June 23, 2015
The US intelligence community has identified China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as leading cyber threats to the United States.
The US government, particularly the NSA, has been criticized for its handling of US citizens’ private data. Classified documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed widespread US government collection of Americans’ private data, as well as the sharing of the data with foreign intelligence partners.
