Online attacks on Canada’s financial system could become far more destructive as more militaries around the globe get involved in cyber operations, a security expert and former CIA analyst told a House of Commons committee Wednesday.

Christopher Porter, the chief intelligence strategist for the cyber security company Fireeye, Inc., testified that as NATO countries share their expertise on how to defend against and defeat online threats, “major cyber powers outside the alliance” will likely do the same.

The consequences, he said, could be dire.

Source: CBC News

Date: February 7th, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cyber-warfare-sanctions-denial-service-cia-1.5008956

Discussion

1) “The West’s imposition of sanctions on “some countries” has in the past been met with denial-of-service attacks on financial services websites”.  What is a “denial-of-service attack”?

2) How could institutions protect against a denial-of-service attack?