US shutdown has started to show its repercussions on many of the official websites in the United States leaving users vulnerable to cyber attacks, say cybersecurity experts. The websites which are vulnerable include US Department of Justice, The Court of Appeals and NASA and a few portals related to the Utilities & municipalities operating in two of the largest metro cities on the United States.
The whole of the populace of North America is aware of the fact that the 45Th Us president is adamant in building a wall on the Mexican border due to immigrant propelled security reasons.
And as the Republicans dream may consume a $5 billion in the annual budget of the nation, the Democrats are against the decision of building a wall. Due to the lack on consensus between the Republicans and the Democrats a shutdown was announced last month i.e. in Dec’18 which has entered the 21st day today.
As soon as the US government shutdown 2018 was announced, the American populace thought that it is going to exist till the end of the holiday season and things will get back to normalcy after January 5th, 2019…whereas it didn’t.
Now news is out that the shutdown is not only affecting the pay of the federal workers but is also showing its impact on the security certificates of various government websites- exposing them to cyber attacks.
Note- Technically speaking, digital certificates ensure that the communication done between a device and the website is encrypted and the data transmitted in the communication remains secure. But when issued, they are provided with an expiration certificate dating from a few months to years.
As per the study conducted by the security experts of Netcraft, more than 80 security certificates of government websites have already expired and over 120 of them will get deluged by this weekend.
“With each passing day, the impact of the United States federal government shutdown of 2018 on our nation’s security grows,” said Suzanne Spaulding, a former secretary of cyber security wing of DHS.
She added that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is operating with less than a quarter of its original staff, and so the situation looks grim for the coming days.
