U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the threat of an Islamic State cyber attack is one of her biggest fears.
“Concern that ISIS or any of our foreign enemies might develop that capacity … is the thing that keeps me and many of my colleagues in law enforcement up at night,” Lynch told ABC in an exclusive interview.
Lynch said the technological and social media prowess of the terrorist group are its greatest strength.
“It’s as serious — if not more serious a threat — than al Qaeda,” Lynch told ABC. “It is a dangerous, high-tempo threat environment.”
The Internet and social media allows ISIS to spread its message and recruit people around the world. A single ISIS-inspired person in America could carry out a disastrous attack.
ISIS has successfully recruited people, even young people from Western countries, through the Internet and social media.
“I think that it makes it harder to predict,” Lynch told ABC. “ I think it makes it harder to determine who’s going to succumb to the propaganda.”
The fear of a cyber attack has usually been centered around China, which has a history of sponsoring hackers to carry out cyber attacks on private companies as well as the Federal government.
The Office of Personnel Management hack, which stole the personal information of millions of Americans, is believed to be carried out by Chinese hackers. The OPM hack revealed how vulnerable American cyber defenses are, whether the hackers are from China or ISIS.
Follow Casey on Twitter and like him on Facebook
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.