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British MPs Warn of 'Fatal' Cyber Warfare Strategy

Posted by Unknown on from the knows-a-guy-good-with-computers dept.

judgecorp writes "British Members of Parliament have warned that the UK's cyber warfare strategy is getting it wrong. According to a defense committee report, the country's IT security forces are inadequately prepared for a cyber attack, rely too heavily on inadequately protected systems, and do not sufficiently appreciate the difficulty of attributing the source of an attack."

14 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. As usual... by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 2, Funny

    Where the US leads, the UK follows...

  2. Also "attribution" does not help when by Chrisq · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also "attribution" does not help when your main enemy is Islam. The attackers could be in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, or Wolverhampton.

    1. Re:Also "attribution" does not help when by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'd have thought corporate espionage was more the main enemy in any sort of "cyber warfare" rather than terrorism.
       
      Though I'm sure the Chinese have already stolen everything they need from our primitive network.

    2. Re:Also "attribution" does not help when by gsnedders · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The largest threat of terrorism to the UK does not come from Islamic extremism: the largest threat remains continuing branches of the IRA. Those damn radicalized Christians!

    3. Re:Also "attribution" does not help when by Chrisq · · Score: 2

      The largest threat of terrorism to the UK does not come from Islamic extremism: the largest threat remains continuing branches of the IRA. Those damn radicalized Christians!

      Not according to MI5 who say

      International terrorism from groups such as Al Qaida presents a threat on a scale not previously encountered. Drawing on extremist messages presented by figures such as Usama bin Laden, Al Qaida and its related networks seek to carry out terrorist attacks around the world, aiming to carry out "high impact" attacks causing mass civilian casualties.

    4. Re:Also "attribution" does not help when by Gordonjcp · · Score: 3, Informative

      On the UK mainland alone, over the past 40 years there have been a couple of hundred attacks by Irish republicans - and that doesn't count attacks by loyalists, which tend not to be on the mainland.

      How many attacks by radical Muslims? One, and the people who did it are all dead - the upside of suicide bombings is that people tend to only carry out one.

    5. Re:Also "attribution" does not help when by PPH · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But that's the character of the Internet. Its not a classical war with front lines, like the last big one. Its more like an insurgency or just plain old criminal activity conducted by the punks on the street corner.

      Attribution is fine if your plan is to counter attack some state entity. But it does no good against a criminal organization, terrorist cell or spammer that can dissolve and reorganize at any time.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    6. Re:Also "attribution" does not help when by Hentes · · Score: 2

      Attribution does not help, period. Most attacks happen from hacked bots anyway.

  3. Apparently, someone just told them about proxies by crazyjj · · Score: 2

    do not sufficiently appreciate the difficulty of attributing the source of an attack

    And they were so happy when they successfully traced the latest attack to user "goatse" at fbi.gov.

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
  4. Not to mention horribly behind in networking. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A whole damn new system, built on IPv4 when it could have easily been done in IPv6.

    The people in charge of networking the government are either straight out of college or are 87 and almost for snuffing it.
    They have absolutely no clue.

    It is a shame as well because I have a friend who is actually brilliant with networking, completely jobless and literally got "stood up" on a job interview the other day by some computer repairs and refurbishment company.
    So many others who would have done a better job as well. Probably still jobless.

    Not only that, the NHS computing system is horribly broken in general as well.
    The inability for remote interviews to be done is pretty crippling too.
    I was just in for a check-up recently that was held up by 1.5 hours because most of the doctors weren't in that day because of illness.
    ONE doctor had to take up the majority of interviews, others cancelled for another time.
    Now just imagine if those doctors had access to their systems for remote interviews.
    They could have a nurse in if any examinations were required, to help with moving the camera or feel stomachs or whatever else.
    This is such an incredibly simple system to setup and would help greatly.
    But there was that poor guy having to probably rush check-ups and possibly even put people at risk.

    The government seriously need to rethink their computing systems from the absolutely lowest levels all the way up.
    It is horribly outdated, and a few additions to it could save millions in money, and even save lives.

    As a programmer, I would love to help, but given illness I'd likely not get the job anyway. (and worse, probably going to be accused of being lazy in the coming year with the new push for getting people in to jobs when my illness is activated by long periods of activity, including mental, hell, especially mental, programming is a pain in the ass, even if I have been doing it since 9!)
    Ah, lovely!

    1. Re:Not to mention horribly behind in networking. by dkf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes but if the over-the-Internet Consultation is suppose to be free or a minimal charge; you will not find a lot of Doctors doing it. The good thing I guess, is that it would be easy to weed out the Doctors who are in it for the money, verses the Doctors that actually care about their Patients. From my personal experience, a real caring Doctor is a rarity in the USA.

      The healthcare system is very different in the US to in the UK. In particular, patients don't (usually) pay doctors to get treated in the UK so there's no incentive for the medics to incompletely treat someone, and there's a part of the system that is genuinely motivated to reduce overall costs and which will therefore invest in preventative medicine. (I won't argue that it's a perfect system though, just less broken in terms of overall cost-effectiveness.)

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  5. Re:Apparently, someone just told them about proxie by ark1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    And they were so happy when they successfully traced the latest attack to user "goatse" at fbi.gov.

    You mean Goatse was able to expose their gaping hole?

  6. Standard response by jbmartin6 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The government's response to the report will be "We will do anything it takes to resolve these issues as long as it doesn't cost anything and our users do not have to change their behavior."

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  7. In other word.. by 3seas · · Score: 2

    their internet condom has holes. abstinence is the best policy when it comes to the internet and dangerious technology..