Cyberwarfare, cybercrime, cyberespianoge, cyberspies – whatever you call it – is somewhat of an obsession of mine. As a military / history / war junkie it’s natural that the geek in me find something of awe in the idea of cyberwarfare. It could be my fascination with movies like Hackers and War Games.
A couple years ago I wrote about the “first internet war” where Russian hackers allegedly targeted the Estonian infrastructure after a World War 2 Memorial to the Unknown Russian Soldier (we have a similar memorial in the USA) was removed from the center of the capital city to a suburban cemetery.
A year after that Russia got caught up in another cyberwar – this time parallel to an actual physical fight with Georgia. This attack involved taking down or defacing Georgian government websites.
After the Estonian / Russian cyberwar, a study was done about the internal security of the United States infrastructure – could this happen to us? Former “Terrorism Czar” Richard Clarke claimed former President Bush signed the report – but didn’t read it. eWeek reports:
The work needed to create an Internet infrastructure that could support a more secure, more rationalized cyberspace has unfortunately been starved of funding by a Congress, an administration and a society that just “doesn’t get it,” Clarke said.
“The Bush administration has systematically reduced the work necessary to secure cyberspace,” he said. The administration has reduced funding for research and development, at DARPA and elsewhere, for example, he said.
“Bush’s own advisory committee said we were dangerously reducing funding” on securing cyberspace, he said. “Still, he went ahead, and it was reduced.”
Ironically today the Wall Street Journal reports that we are indeed vulnerable and have actually been attacked. Russian and Chinese (among others) “hackers” found their way in to our electricity grid and left behind software that could render the infrastructure useless at a time of war.
Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, “If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on.”
That’s scary. One can only imagine how vulnerable the rest of our infrastructure is.
Thankfully the Obama Administration is taking cyberware and our internal internet infrastructure’s security more seriously than the Bush Adminsitration.
But protecting the electrical grid and other infrastructure is a key part of the Obama administration’s cybersecurity review, which is to be completed next week. Under the Bush administration, Congress approved $17 billion in secret funds to protect government networks, according to people familiar with the budget. The Obama administration is weighing whether to expand the program to address vulnerabilities in private computer networks, which would cost billions of dollars more. A senior Pentagon official said Tuesday the Pentagon has spent $100 million in the past six months repairing cyber damage.
Related posts:
- The First Internet War From eWeek’s coverage… While mobs were rioting in the streets...
- North Korea Cyberattacks On U.S., South Korea The Washington Post reports today that North Korea is suspected...
- The Cyber War in Iran Social Networks have provided millions of interconnected networks of people...
- Cyber Defense Gold Rush via NYTimes… The government’s urgent push into cyberwarfare has set...
- Pentagon Plans New Military Command For Cyberspace Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Wars in Cyberspace –...
