Report: US government now buys more malware than anyone else in the worldMadison Ruppert Speaking of the governments new focus on offensive cybersecurity, former White House cybersecurity advisors Howard Schmidt and Richard Clarke both told Reuters that the government is putting so much emphasis on offensive measures that it ultimately leaves people in the U.S. at risk. If the U.S. government knows of a vulnerability that can be exploited, under normal circumstances, its first obligation is to tell U.S. users, Clarke said. There is supposed to be some mechanism for deciding how they use the information, for offense or defense. But there isnt. In order for the government to exploit vulnerabilities discovered in major software, they cannot disclose those vulnerabilities to the manufacturers or the public, lest the exploit be fixed. According to the Verge, the pursuit of those vulnerabilities is quite costly, zero-day exploits (those which are unknown to software developers at the time of discovery) have been known to sell for as much as $50,000 $100,000 each. These zero-day exploits are then packaged into weaponized malware and sold to anyone from cybercriminals to repressive governments. My job was to have 25 zero-days on a USB stick, ready to go, one former executive at a defense contractor told Reuters. The defense contractor would purchase vulnerabilities from independent hackers and then turn them into exploits for the government to use as an offensive cyberweapon. While the U.S. government is unsurprisingly silent when it comes to their cyberwarfare program, much has been revealed by former defense contractors and vendors. These individuals have revealed that the U.S. is dominating the so-called gray market which is really a completely illegal black market where so much money is to be made that some researchers are lured towards helping an offensive cyberwar. The only people paying are on the offensive side, said Charlie Miller, who formerly worked at the National Security Agency and now works for Twitter as a security researcher. Even more troubling is that tax dollars may end up flowing to skilled hackers simultaneously supplying criminal groups, according to Reuters. Most of all, this approach ensures that the U.S. government has a vested interest in keeping as many security vulnerabilities open in the most popular software available so those vulnerabilities can be exploited and even weaponized. If this is the future of war, there very well might be more collateral damage than ever. Id love to hear your opinion, take a look at your story tips and even your original writing if you would like to get it published. Please email me at Admin@EndtheLie.com Please support our work and help us start to pay contributors by doing your shopping through our Amazon link or check out some must-have products at our store. This article first appeared at End the Lie. Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis databaseEnd The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCYTV Monday nights 7 PM 9 PM PT/10 PM 12 AM ET. Show page link here: http://UCY.TV/EndtheLie. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com 