Mark Hosenball, NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated May 4, 2009
The computer wizards at the national Security Agency’s tightly guarded headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., think they know better than anyone justhow vulnerable America is to a massive cyberattack. It’s their job to monitor rogue activity on networks around the world. In recent years, hackers in Russia and Chinaâ€â€possibly operating with government backingâ€â€have rummaged through U.S. and other Western data banks for sensitive information. Russia, in particular,has demonstrated a willingnessto wage cyberwarfare. It has launched hack attacks against uppity former Soviet satellites, including a blitz on Georgia last summer that knocked out its electronic banking system for 10 days, according to a NATO report obtained by newsweek.