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There Is No Cyberwar

crowfeather notes an interview with cybersecurity czar Howard Schmidt that Wired's Threat Level conducted this week. "Howard Schmidt, the new cybersecurity czar for the Obama administration, has a short answer for the drumbeat of rhetoric claiming the United States is caught up in a cyberwar that it is losing. 'There is no cyberwar,' Schmidt told Wired.com in a sit-down interview Wednesday at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco. 'I think that is a terrible metaphor and I think that is a terrible concept,' Schmidt said. 'There are no winners in that environment.' Instead, Schmidt said the government needs to focus its cybersecurity efforts to fight online crime and espionage. His stance contradicts Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence who made headlines last week when he testified to Congress that the country was already in the midst of a cyberwar — and was losing it. ... There's been much ink spilled in recent years over the turf battles in D.C. over whether the NSA (representing the military) or DHS (on the civilian side) takes the lead role in cybersecurity. But... "I haven't seen that tension," Schmidt said. As for which will take the cybersecurity lead, Schmidt simply says it's a shared effort."

14 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. All this cyberwar bullshit by sopssa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have actually always wondered about this. I remember how we had to write a school subject about "chinese superhackers" newspaper article in the early 2000's. The Google thing was also showed off to be a work of amateurs, not some Chinese superhackers working for their government. For me it just starts to look like trying to put fear into people for whatever personal reason. "Chinese hackers working for their country to break into US systems" sure sounds cool and creates fear in people, but is there any actual truth behind it? As it is now it's almost like cold war carried over to new technological area. It also looks to be a common thing here on slashdot too - without actually even questioning if theres any truth behind it.

    1. Re:All this cyberwar bullshit by Jurily · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Chinese hackers are indistinguishable from Chinese bored teenagers. Or American bored teenagers. Seriously, who cares where they come from?

    2. Re:All this cyberwar bullshit by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, not much. Just a bunch of massive cyber attacks on the U.S. government's websites.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare#History_of_attacks

      Doesn't really matter if it's China behind any of it to call it a cyber war.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    3. Re:All this cyberwar bullshit by ArsonSmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is a cyber war, but it's within our own government, and it's over who gets the budget dollars to fight it.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    4. Re:All this cyberwar bullshit by HungryHobo · · Score: 4, Informative

      seriously: have you ever been an admin for any internet facing server?
      Hundreds of attacks a day is nothing amazing.
      That's background noise.

  2. There is no cyberwar... by H0p313ss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... we have always been at war with Eurasia.

    --
    XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
  3. Re:And he's right. by jimbolauski · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So that explains why the whitehouse banned the term war on terrorism.

    --
    Knowledge = Power
    P= W/t
    t=Money
    Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
  4. So, wait... by Androclese · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are you telling me I planted my Cyber War Victory Garden and bought Cyber War Bonds for nothing?!

    1. Re:So, wait... by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

      So tell me, who the hell do you have buried in the tomb of the Anonymous Soldier?

      An Anonymous Coward, of course.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  5. ***Hand Waive*** by bobcat7677 · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is no Cyber-War ...and these are not the droids you are looking for.

  6. Re:And he's right. by DIplomatic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I definitely agree. I make sure my house and car are locked and secure but I wouldn't say that I am waging a war against burglary.

  7. Re:This guy sounds out of touch by jimbolauski · · Score: 4, Funny

    Incompetence has never been a reason for dismissial in government why start now.

    --
    Knowledge = Power
    P= W/t
    t=Money
    Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
  8. Re:This guy sounds out of touch by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't see how emailing your post to the white house could fail to do the job. I mean "sounds out of touch"? How can anyone read that and not know he's not suited for the job?

    Seriously, focusing on online crime and espionage without re-engineering the internet to eliminate anonymity, instead of focusing on a Cyber-War buzzword with all the "but we're at war!" excuses for doing whatever they want? That's no way to exercise executive power! You're so right; how incompetent can you get?!

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  9. Let's see ... by khasim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What would you call a regular series of attacks on our military headquarters using computers, hmmm?

    I'd call it "the daily life of a firewall". Seriously, check your firewall logs. Mine are being "attacked" every hour of every day and I'm not a military installation.