Foreign Government Communications example essay topic

3 SEP 2002 CONCERNS ABOUT COMMUNICATION SECURITY The laws are inadequate against the ever-evolving communications thief. There are many individuals within the government that have access to valuable data such as secrets, plans, policies, tactics, or just reading email messages from friends and family. Measures, such as Communication Security (COMMSEC), must be taken to protect communication traffic inside of the government. COMMSEC is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your communication conduit. COMMSEC is extremely important because preventive measures help stop unauthorized users from accessing data from government networks and it helps to safeguard national security.

With the advancement of computers and cyberspace being so vast, spies have more tools like wireless transmissions, e-mails, and digital data links to carry out espionage or treason. Spies can now download or falsify top secret government documents from many miles away without the risk of being caught inside government facilities. Information should be available only to those who rightfully have access to it. The payoff is only a mouse click away. Government employees need to practice COMMSEC daily to ensure that the Nation is protected at all times. The United States (U.S.) has national agencies and military that targets foreign government communications.

From breakdowns in COMMSEC, the U.S. can extract information on strategic, theater, and tactical echelons. The U.S. knows that exploiting foreign military forces and military assets are essential elements in achieving and maintaining national dominance over all adversaries. As easy as it is for the U.S. to do this, it can also be done to the U.S. if countermeasures are not in place to deter intruders. The civilian sectors are targeting COMMSEC. There are many opportunities for high payoffs. Private companies are developing highly advanced antivirus software to ensure that communication equipment is transmitting and receiving without intrusion of viruses.

The government usually purchases large quantities of antivirus software from private companies that are certificate-based authenticated. Private companies are also researching and testing newly created software that will disrupt COMMSEC by invading firewalls on foreign government networks. The U.S. government hires certain companies to identify weakness in the government's secured infrastructure. The U.S. tries to identify weakness in its own secured infrastructure before unauthorized users exploit it. The U.S. government does not want intruders to deny, degrade, destroy or disrupt their ability to transmit valuable information to end users worldwide. During conflict, COMMSEC is crucial to any government because information should be accessible and modified only by those who are authorized to do so.

Communication has and always will be important, even decisive, in U.S. government operations. Unauthorized individuals can create havoc, turmoil, and gain the advantage over all entities that have access to a particular communication channel.