cyberwar

Even for a Congress whose antics faintly remind one of the last days of the Weimer Republic, this was a bit much.

The United States Senate last week was unable to bring up the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (PDF) for a final vote because of -- shocker -- party politics.

Had it passed into law, the bill would have made sure that operators of critical infrastructure -- stuff like nuclear plants and water treatment facilities -- satisfied certain minimum cybersecurity standards, an idea championed by heavy hitters in the defense, national security, and intelligence circles. Not this time, though, as … Read more

A top defense and cybersecurity expert says the U.S. should stop trying to take aim at expert hackers and start doing a better job of recruiting them.

"Let's just say that in some places you find guys with body piercings and nonregulation haircuts," U.S. Naval Postgraduate School professor John Arquilla said in an interview with The Guardian published today. "But most of these sorts of guys can't be vetted in the traditional way. We need a new institutional culture that allows us to reach out to them."

Arquilla argues that there are … Read more

If you roll your eyes at the term "Digital Pearl Harbor," you have my sympathy. We've been warned about the specter of an enemy attack via bits and bytes for several decades, with no real evidence that this is a realistic possibility and not mere hype.

Still, a new worm that's been spying on infected computers in the Middle East has been called a "cyberweapon," and while we're not talking outright combat, it's clear that malware is increasingly playing a part in geopolitical diplomacy and conflict.

This week brought news of not … Read more

China and the U.S. are facing guerrilla cyberwar and must work to avoid crises between the two countries, their top defense officials said yesterday after meeting in Washington.

"Because the United States and China have developed the technological capabilities in this arena, it's extremely important that we work together to develop ways to avoid any miscalculation or misperception that could lead to a crisis in this area," U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said at a joint press conference with Chinese Minister of National Defense Gen. Liang Guanglie.

It's no secret that the U.… Read more

It's no secret the U.S. and China are waging a clandestine cyberwar. National Security Agency director Gen. Keith Alexander says it's hitting home hard.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, Gen. Alexander said that China is stealing a "great deal" of the U.S. military's intellectual property, adding that the NSA sees "thefts from defense industrial base companies." According to a story in Information Week, he declined to provide any information on those attacks. However, he did confirm speculation swirling around the security space that China was behind last year's attacks on RSA.… Read more

The United States Chamber of Commerce, the country's largest business-lobbying organization, was hacked by Chinese hackers, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing sources.

Although details are scant, it appears that the hackers had access to the Chamber's network for over a year before they were cleared out in May 2010, the Journal's sources say. The hackers stole six weeks of e-mail from four Chamber employees who were focusing their time on Asia, and could have gained access to all the information the Chamber has on its 3 million members. Although officials are unsure exactly what was … Read more

Reports from the United States and United Kingdom military this week indicate those organizations are more comfortable voicing an idea I find blindingly obvious: cyberwar is war.

First came news yesterday in the Guardian that the U.K. is developing offensive weapons that could be used in attacks on computing systems as "an integral part of the country's armory."

Then, today, the Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. will consider responding with traditional military might to an attack on its computing infrastructure. "If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile … Read more

While governments need to prepare for cyberattacks involving espionage or malware, the likelihood of a sophisticated attack like Stuxnet is small, according to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In a cyberwarfare report (PDF) released today, the OECD said that the risk of a catastrophic attack on critical national systems has been exaggerated. The majority of cyberattacks are low-level and cause inconvenience rather than serious or long-term disruption, according to a co-author of the report, professor Peter Sommer of the London School of Economics.

"There are many scare stories, which, when you test, don't … Read more

International cyberwar would be "worse than a tsunami" and should be averted by a global cybersecurity peace treaty, according to the head of the International Telecommunication Union.

Hamadoun Touré, who has been secretary-general of the U.N. agency since 1999 and is up for re-election in a few weeks' time, has targeted cybersecurity issues in his electoral pledges. Speaking at a London roundtable on Thursday, he said he had proposed such a treaty this year, but it had met "a lot of resistance" from industrialized nations.

"My dream, I said in Davos this year, … Read more