Cyber Pearl Harbor
In a single day last month, three American institutions — the New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines, and the Wall Street Journal — experienced devastating computer “outages” (hacks?). Each of these represent major pillars of the U.S. economy. In June, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) revealed that it had been the target of a very sophisticated and protracted hack exposing the private information of millions of federal employees. Then later, OPM reported that it had suffered another computer