Cyber Warfare Risks Overblown

Calls for military oversight of cybersecurity distract from protecting against legitimate threats, said the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

(click image for larger view)
Slideshow: Top 10 Security Stories Of 2010
Will we see cyberwar in our lifetime? According to a report released on Friday, its unlikely that an event with the characteristics of conventional war but fought exclusively in cyberspace will ever occur, or have any kind of global impact.
So says the new Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report,
Reducing Systemic Cybersecurity Risk,
written by
Peter Sommer
, a visiting professor at London School of Economics, and
Ian Brown
, senior research fellow at Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University.
According to the report, the best way to combat online attacks is to practice the basics: create secure code, monitor for malware and intrusions, educate users, and always have an attack and recovery response plan in place for the attacks that inevitably do get through.
But todays penchant for sensationalizing even small incidents as major attacks -- and labeling them as cyberwar or
cyber terrorism
-- actually makes organizations and government agencies less prepared for dealing with the harmful and damaging types of attacks they continue to face.
Interestingly, the report also notes that despite legislators focus on securing the nations critical infrastructure, the vast majority of said infrastructure remains in the hands of private companies. Of course, these companies are ultimately responsible to shareholders, rather than government appeals for cooperation or military oversight.
Accordingly, militarizing all cyberspace is not only unnecessary, but wouldnt produce much of an effect. We think that a largely military approach to cybersecurity is a mistake. Most targets in the critical national infrastructure of communications, energy, finance, food, government, health, transport, and water are in the private sector, said Brown, a critical infrastructure expert whos consulted for the Department of Homeland Security and the European Network and Information Security Agency, among other organizations.
Furthermore, unlike conventional warfare, the militarys cyberweapons -- hacking, malicious code, denial of service attacks, rootkits, social engineering -- dont offer any useful deterrence, since attackers can use zombie PCs controlled by a
botnet
to launch
untraceable attacks
.
Why, then, is there so much discussion about the role that the United States military must play in protecting the nations critical infrastructure as well as systems at large? Together with poor analysis and inexact language, the report authors cite heavy lobbying as a factor.

Last News
▸ ArcSight prepares for future at user conference post HP acquisition. ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Samsung Epic 4G: First To Use Media Hub ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Many third-party software fails security tests ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security

**Cyber Security Categories**
Google Dorks Database	Exploits Vulnerability	Exploit Shellcodes

CVE List

Tools/Apps

News/Aarticles

Phishing Database

Deepfake Detection

Trends/Statistics & Live Infos

Tags:
Cyber Warfare Risks Overblown