Slashdot Mirror
Expert Dissects Estonian Cyber-War
Stony Stevenson points out an iTnews summary of a security researcher's account of the cyber-attacks on Estonia last year. The full report [PDF] is also available. We've discussed this internet-based conflict in the past. From the report:
"In the days leading up to the attack, numerous clues pointed to a large-scale operation that was being planned online. Russian-language Internet discussion forums were abuzz with preparations for an online attack. Three days before the expected onslaught, Estonia planned to release the news of the coming strike in hopes that European media attention would oblige the EU to pressure the Kremlin to intervene, whether or not the attacks emanated from the Russian authorities."
I'm sorry, but ... wait, no I'm not.
Gadi Evron, while undeniably prolific, is questionably informed. Take what he has to say with a grain of salt, and don't for a second believe there's anything more involved here than using well-known industry best-practices for evaluating vulnerable infrastructure and dealing with this type of traffic.
We now return to your regularly scheduled cross-post flame-fest between nanog and full-disclosure.
No, you can't rely on that.
IPs can be faked, and trying to track down a specific IP across uncooperative ISPs and political borders is a fools errand.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Estonia I can almost forgive, as they're relatively poor and didn't have much time to go from Soviet-era attitudes to something saner. They should still have done more. What bothers me much more is that the scorecards for US departments make it clear that the US is even less prepared for a cyberwar than even Balkan castoffs.
Actually, Estonia isn't very poor. They're a member of the E.U. They're the wealthiest of the Baltic States and their market economy has "one of the highest per capita income levels of Central Europe" (CIA World Factbook). Their unemployment is comparable to the U.S., at just 5.2%. They're actually quite modern. Most of their population files tax returns online. Does that sound like a poverty-struck backwards nation to you?
There's nothing very Soviet about them, really. They speak their own language, Estonian, which is quite similar to Finnish. Estonia and Finland have very close ties, culturally and financially.
You're clearly thinking of some other Estonia.
Hitler was very open about his attitude toward Communism long before Operation Barbarossa. He wrote about it in Mein Kampf.