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Beyond Firewalls — Internet Militarization

Posted by timothy on from the warm-up-the-euphemism-bandier dept.

angry tapir writes "One of the discussions at the Source Boston Security Showcase has been the militarization of the Internet. Governments looking to silence critics and stymie opposition have added DDOS attacks to their censoring methods, according to Jose Nazario, senior security researcher at Arbor Networks, with international political situations spawning DDOS attacks."

5 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Militarization? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Oh, come on. This is just more hysteria manufactured by people looking for money, fame and fortune.

    A DDOS attack is hardly the same the thing as a shell and mortar attack. For one thing, a DDOS doesn't do, and by definition, can't do permanent damage, nor can it kill people.

    Can we all just lay off the hype machine a little bit?

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    1. Re:Militarization? by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sadly I think that many people would be more upset about a day's outage of their bank than a real shell and mortar attack in Somalia, Iraq, or the Gaza Strip.

    2. Re:Militarization? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sadly I think that many people would be more upset about a day's outage of their bank than a real shell and mortar attack in Somalia, Iraq, or the Gaza Strip.

      Well I think that many people would be a lot more upset about a shell and mortar attack on any city in their own country than a day's outage at their bank. I speak from experience.

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    3. Re:Militarization? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, there's a large difference between gang-land violence and an actual military mortar attack.

      Morgan has a point.

      There is a huge difference between preventing terrorism and fighting a war.

      Unfortunately, "war" is something that people who have never been in one think is romantic or exciting. I never thought much about war until my wife and daughter were stuck in Belgrade during the NATO bombing. I'm watching the CNN, seeing US planes, pilots and ordinance doing it's very best to kill my dearest loved-ones.

      So, should we fight terrorism with police action or with a "War on Terror"? Clearly, let the cops handle it and get our people out of Iraq before someone else gets hurt.

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  2. Well, yes. by tygerstripes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It was inevitable, surely. Once governments came to realise that the web was becoming a legitimate medium rather than an entity, they would obviously start to employ it in the same way they have every other.

    I have to ask: is this story about governments wising-up in the ways of the intertubes and turning it to their advantage, or about the fact that this was discussed at a conference? I'd have thought the former was self-evident, and the latter was completely un-newsworthy. Maybe we can discuss specific examples of political internet jiggery-pokery, but this kind of vague allusion is just going to prompt hot-air discussions with no real content, isn't it?

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