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."
Ah yes, mark it up as it calls out the US for being less prepared than a post cold war soviet satellite when this is in fact, completely incorrect. The US government uses networks completely disconnected from the internet to conduct its real business, as posted repeatedly on slashdot. The fact that people still believe that US governments public websites and points of presence are anything more than public relations has not been keeping pace. But go ahead, mod "insightful" and "interesting" because the post makes a "jab" at the US.
For the rest of the world who isnt so spun up in anti-US fervor to see what the real problem is.... Vladamirs Putins political party is heavily involved in supporting "youth" organizations which can act for the state, without the state getting any stains on its hands. This may be one of those instances of ultra-nationalists, who have been backed by the state, who act "independently" for the interests of the home nation. While it is irresponsible of the Russian government to allow this type of activity to go on, it is certainly not against their best interests.
20th century Marxism is not progress...
The Internet as it stands today is a consequences-free zone. Nations can't "do" anything about such attacks because there are no effective ways to conclusively track them back to individuals or even organizations. Even if there was, how much is some official going to do in China when handed a report of some kind of attack against some other country's computers?
As continuously pointed out, an IP address does not identify an individual. Today, with today's laws, unless you leave clear tracks to other forms of identification just having an IP address does not connect a deed with an individual. You can threaten, harass, and, yes, DDoS, with impunity. I don't see this changing anytime soon.
This pretty much means that any real online presence lives or dies by how much they draw attention to themselves and how motivated the attackers are. Estonia sounds like they were particularly vulnerable with little in the way of offline backup for basic services. This is not true in the US today, but it could easily be that way tomorrow. Could a group of disgruntled folks cripple government services in the US? Maybe. Given the current climate with laws, enforcement and international cooperation, there is no way that anyone outside the US would ever be prosecuted unless they bragged about what they did.
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.
Also, how in the world is removing a Soviet statue saying "I love Nazis"? Every single year the Russians would gather at the memorial during VE day and get wasted and wave the Soviet flag around. Naturally the Estonians would come by with signs like "During the occupation X amount of people were deported" and whatnot. Then a fight would break out and the cops would have to come stop a small scale riot from breaking out because someone told these idiots the truth. To stop this from escalating we moved the monument. We did not destroy it, we did not desecrate the bodies, we did not cut the statue into pieces as the Durma said, we moved it with full respect for the dead.
Saying we prefer Nazis is strange. My own family was killed by the Nazis and my grandfather deported to Germany to work in a forced labor camp till the war ended and the guards just disapeard one day. I hate Nazis. I have about 1 or 2 living relatives left in Estonia because of that. But that does not make me a Soviet lover. You don't have to pick a side here, you can hate both.
Yes, we made our choice. We chose freedom and thats what we have. Don't like it, comrade? Tough.