“Over the past several years, we have seen cyberattacks against critical infrastructures abroad, and many of our own infrastructures are as vulnerable as their foreign counterparts,” warned Dennis Blair, the United States Director of National Intelligence. “A number of nations, including Russia and China, can disrupt elements of the US information infrastructure.”
Several commentators and security experts in the U.S. fear a possible “digital Pearl Harbor” and point to the perceived vulnerabilities of America’s infrastructure. President Barack Obama initiated a review of the country’s cybersecurity capabilities in February (the assessment was recently completed but the report has not been publically released). US strategy was evaluated because there are reportedly “thousands of daily attacks on federal and private computer systems in the United States – many from China and Russia, some malicious and some testing chinks in the patchwork of American firewalls.” The review and news coverage have revolved around a bureaucratic turf war between the Department of Homeland Security and National Security Agency over who will lead US efforts. But, the threat is real, if not completely understood.
Large-scale cyberattacks against Estonia in 2007 and Georgia in 2008 heightened concerns. The Center for Strategic and International Studies also published a report in December arguing that “America’s failure to protect cyberspace is one of the most urgent national security problems facing the new administration.” Interviews conducted for the report “made it clear we are in a long-term struggle with criminals, foreign intelligence agencies, militaries and others with whom we are intimately and unavoidably connected through a global digital network.”
US armed forces are conducting cyberwar games to improve American defenses.
“Part of the Pentagon’s effort to increase the military’s capabilities are the annual cyberwar games played at the nation’s military academies, including West Point, where young cadets in combat boots and buzz cuts talk megabytes instead of megatons on a campus dotted with statues of generals, historic armaments and old stone buildings.”
While the immediacy of the threats may be overblown, countries around the world are looking to improve their cyberwarfare abilities (weapons and methods of protection) and a digital arms race is arguably underway. This week, the Washington Times reported that China developed and installed a new computer operating system designed to “make Beijing’s networks impenetrable to US military and intelligence agencies.” The cyberrace continues…
Cartoon from KAL.
