Is There a Cyberwar, and Is the US Losing It?

kenblakely writes "BusinessWeek is running a story asserting that the 'US is Losing the Global Cyberwar.' This whole cyberwar thing has been discussed a few times on Slashdot where the Chinese are asserted to be using cyberwarfare to attain military superiority. And, of course, there is the whole Russia-Georgia thing. Even the US military is getting in on the action, and the fear of a cyber Pearl Harbor seems almost palpable. I'm curious what the Slashdot crowd thinks about the growing fascination with 'cyberwar': hype to get more money and create new force structure, source of the next world war, or somewhere in between?"

Comments

It's a US ploy to provoke anti-Chinese sentiments

[BhaKi]

The abysmal level of technical detail in all these "US military data was stolen", "Pentagon was hacked" kind of reports confirms it.

troll flamebait

[Doc Ruby]

This story, with only 29 responses as I type this one, is already tagged with "troll" and "flamebait". Because asking whether our military is winning or losing a war that could determine our survival as a free country, or whether it's even fighting one that is demonstrably costing a lot of money, isn't a legitimate question. No, it's just question designed to do nothing but start a flamewar.

Which is a cyberwar.

We therefore have our answer, basically: yes, we are in a cyberwar; no, we don't even really know how to fight one, or how to know that we are fighting one . I don't know if it's Chinese people tagging this story, but whoever it is, they're an enemy. Luckily, to defeat them we just have to think a little and talk amongst ourselves in public. Which is the charter of Slashdot. In this story's discussion we'll get to see whether we have a chance of winning.