Cyberwar - It's Not Just Hollywood Hype Anymore
Cyberspace is something on which we Americans are hugely
dependent. We use our ATM cards, cell phones, and Internet cafes.
We have sonograms, X-rays and MRIs. All these things and so much
more are in cyberspace. Our lives have become totally bounded
and dependent on cyberspace. The cyberspace domain is our way
of life.
Cyberwar refers to controlling military operations according
to information-related principles. It means interrupting or destroying
information and communications systems. It means trying to know
everything about an adversary while keeping the adversary from
knowing very much about itself. It has long been the stuff of
Hollywood hype, but recent events suggest the internet is becoming
a theatre for genuine international conflict.
Although the government said it does not know of any threats
of such an attack, federal agencies are bracing for a cyberattack
of historic proportions - what some observers call a cyber Pearl
Harbor.
During the first two weeks of May, the Baltic nation of Estonia
suffered 128 separate denial-of-service attacks against both government
and private-sector Web sites. And late last month, a report from
the Department of Defense said the People's Liberation Army of
China is building up its cyberwarfare capabilities, even creating
malware that could be used against enemy computer systems in the
first-strike attacks. Estonia was able to weather the huge attack,
but it begs the question, could the United States or the world
afford to be cut off from the Web? It's a chilling prospect.
To date, there have been no proven, documented cases of one nation
attacking another via cyberspace, but the potential large-scale
economic disruption that would follow such an attack would include
shortages of supplies that could affect both citizens and the
military, says Howard Schmidt, a former White House cybersecurity
adviser and former chief security officer at eBay and Microsoft.
A major hurdle that nations face in defending their critical
infrastructures is working with the entities that control telecommunications
networks, electrical grids, and transportation systems. This is
a significant issue in the United States, given that the private
sector owns more than 85% of the critical infrastructure. Communication
and cooperation between government officials and private-sector
critical infrastructure owners is essential because the military
is more knowledgeable and better prepared to respond to a cyberattack.
"When it comes to information warfare, corporations in general
are no match for a trained intelligence officer", says David
Drab, a 27-year veteran of the FBI who retired in 2002 and is
now principal for information content security with Xerox Global
Services. These officers have an objective, they have resources,
and often they have the element of surprise on their side, he
says. Businesses are ill-prepared to handle these types of attacks.
There are ways to mitigate the prospect of cyberwarfare, says
Schmidt. One is for nations to work with their critical infrastructure
owners to bolster security preparedness. This includes ensuring
that software patches are up to date and that access-control systems
- bio-metric or otherwise - are in place to protect IT infrastructures
from intruders and malicious insiders. Schmidt also suggests that
countries create treaties that agree not to do this to each other.
Sources:
Information Week, June 4, 2007 Cyberwarfare: A Realistic Appraisal,
Sharon Gaudin and Larry Greenemeier
Information Week, May 28, 2007 Estonia On Its Knees Larry
Greenemeier
Federal Computer Week May 28, 2007 Feds take 'cyber Pearl Harbor'
seriously Jason Miller
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