Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US and Russia Set Up Cyber Cold War Hotline

Posted by samzenpus on from the don't-say-that-you're-the-more-sorry-than-I-am-because-I-am-capable-of-being-just-as-sorry-as-you-ar dept.

judgecorp writes "In a move reminiscent of the 1960s Cold War days, Presidents Obama and Putin have set up a hotline between their respective cyber-security authorities, to defuse any possible crises and prevent them from escalating into an online equivalent of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 'We recognise that threats to or in the use of ICTs include political-military and criminal threats, as well as threats of a terrorist nature, and are some of the most serious national and international security challenges we face in the 21st Century,' a joint statement from the presidents read."

40 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. In Soviet Russia by Roachie · · Score: 1

    ... hotline call YOU!

    --
    This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
  2. Russia/USA is NOT the problem by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    The problem is China/West. China has been cracking the west for over a decade (though I blame W for forcing the gov to be on Windows). Things are heating up now, esp. with Snowden's BS.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      America soon to be the only country in all history to go to nuclear war over IP theft.

    2. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by beckett · · Score: 5, Insightful

      you claim China has been 'cracking the west', and yet you conveniently ignore stuxnet and flame. you're more pissed off at a whistleblower's "BS" than plain evidence the US government has been engaging in rampant data mining and surveillance on a global scale.

      China is the new 'enemy' that the US has been waiting for since the end of the Cold War. No doubt this escalating rivalry will drive the development and purchase of a new generation of military equipment, and justify the US government exerting unilateral control over ever more aspects of online activity and identity. Rest easy: we'll all continue to enjoy unending war in our lifetimes.

    3. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      America soon to be the only country in all history to go to nuclear war over IP theft.

      US: We didn't launch the nukes at you Russia! Chinese hackers did it while we were distracted by a huge PRISM!

    4. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by GPLHost-Thomas · · Score: 1

      I'm getting a little bit tired of this anti-Chinese constant racism when we have to deal with online stuff. Most of the SPAM is sent from USA, though there's always someone to claim it's coming mainly from China (which is completely false these days, China only ranks nine on the top 10 spammers). Here, we're seeing the same thing. USA is the country with the biggest government sponsored hacks, and by far. Also, it's well known to all Chinese that the government is spying on its people. The government doesn't even claim not to do it. In USA, even when the gov. is caught with the hand in the basket, they still claim the basket doesn't exist. It's been really disgusting to see major companies doing a deception campaign claiming that the NSA doesn't have "direct access to our servers" when the PRISM program isn't about that (it's about tapping on the major peering of the Internet and listening what goes through the wire).

    5. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      I see this attitude ALL THE TIME and it never fails to baffle me. Because someone thinks that China is the new boogeyman, that means that China must not be hacking at all. It's all about the all-powerful US government boogeyman instead! (newsflash, Obama is the good guy, the media is on his side these days)

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    6. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      why are there Senators out there trying to have him executed for high treason?

      Just playing Devil's Advocate, but why does that mean that what Snowden said was true? Is it only treason when someone tells the truth, or can it be treason if the person is lying, but their lies are intended to cause mass devastation?

      well... if his lies were levying war on the united states(I don't think he gave them Aid and Comfort which means lodging them).

      actually it's only treason nowadays if you can't pin any other crime on it. that's the modern treason. mainly because they changed what treason meant and how it is to be tried, funny thing is that it's one of the only specific crimes in USA that had such definitions.. even if levying war can mean many things. you would need an open court according to the original definition as well. technically I don't think what snowden did was levying war, true or not. though it would not have been a big deal if it was not true.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    7. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by beckett · · Score: 1

      I see this attitude ALL THE TIME and it never fails to baffle me. Because someone thinks that China is the new boogeyman, that means that China must not be hacking at all. It's all about the all-powerful US government boogeyman instead!

      Note you're the only person that said that "China must not be hacking at all": neither me nor GP said this. congratulations on your hasty strawman creation.

      (newsflash, Obama is the good guy, the media is on his side these days)

      If you continue to think in binary "good guy, bad guy" terms, we'll never get past this caveman "us vs them". The first things you should check at the door is any notion of American exceptionalism, and your blind faith in "the media".

    8. Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      You've answered your own question: it seems to.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Is it Vetted? by mitcheli · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If memory serves, a group of small Russian children presented one of our embassies a gift of a beautiful wooden state seal to hang on the wall. Unbeknown to anyone in the embassy at the time, it contained a small passive bug built within and that allowed the Russians to listen in to priviledged embassy conversations. The seal is now hanging up a the NSA museum in Columbia, Maryland. So the question is, who made the phones for this hotline?

    --
    Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
    1. Re:Is it Vetted? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Seal Bug was just one bug. Later, the Soviets kindly built us an embassy with bugs built into the very concrete of the walls.

    2. Re:Is it Vetted? by z0idberg · · Score: 1

      Do you really think the USA side would need specific hardware installed from the Russian side to setup a hotline (or vice versa).....Or do you think they would use their own hardware and it is just the actual line that is common?

    3. Re:Is it Vetted? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Bugs are so old tech now. For 20 years they've been bouncing lasers off windows and decoding the audio vibrations.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    4. Re:Is it Vetted? by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

      If memory serves, a group of small Russian children presented one of our embassies a gift of a beautiful wooden state seal to hang on the wall. Unbeknown to anyone in the embassy at the time, it contained a small passive bug built within and that allowed the Russians to listen in to priviledged embassy conversations. The seal is now hanging up a the NSA museum in Columbia, Maryland. So the question is, who made the phones for this hotline?

      China of course...

      --
      blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    5. Re:Is it Vetted? by tlambert · · Score: 3, Informative

      Do you really think the USA side would need specific hardware installed from the Russian side to setup a hotline (or vice versa).....Or do you think they would use their own hardware and it is just the actual line that is common?

      In fact, yes, they do, because the US doesn't trust that the Russian encryption isn't crackable, and vice versa. So as of 2010, there's been a joint encryption agreement in place for the White House/Kremlin hotline, and the same technology is being deployed in this case as well. Specifically the GRU and SVR in Russia, and their opposite numbers in the US. The agreed upon solution was to use cryptosystems from both countries on the communications.

      "More recently, the United States and Russia agreed on new joint encryption arrangements for the forty-year-old hotline between the Kremlin and the White House. Moreover, American and Russian banks already cooperate in secure digital communications for international transfers of staggeringly large sums of money."

      See this 2010 report for details, specifically, the executive summary beginning on page 7:
      http://www.ewi.info/system/files/USRussiaCyber_WEB.pdf

  4. This is.... by MasseKid · · Score: 1

    This is an onion article, right? Right? Please.... please.... please tell me this is an onion article...

    1. Re:This is.... by umghhh · · Score: 1

      yes it is TO article and the now famous hotline is just two skype accounts.

  5. joshua by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    joshua

  6. Cyber Cold War Hotline by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

    How convenient, hot and cold running war...

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  7. Of course it's a friendly call by srjh · · Score: 1

    Hello? ... Ah ... I can't hear too well. Do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little? ... Oh-ho, that's much better. ... yeah ... huh ... yes ... Fine, I can hear you now, Vladimir. ... Clear and plain and coming through fine....I'm coming through fine, too, eh? ... Good, then ... well, then, as you say, we're both coming through fine. ... Good. ... Well, it's good that you're fine and ... and I'm fine. ... I agree with you, it's great to be fine. ... a-ha-ha-ha-ha ... Now then, Vladimir, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb. ...The *Bomb*, Vladimir.... The *hydrogen* bomb! ... Well now, what happened is ... ah ... one of our base commanders, he had a sort of ... well, he went a little funny in the head ... you know ... just a little ... funny. And, ah ... he went and did a silly thing. ... Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes ... to attack your country... Ah... Well, let me finish, Vladimir. ... Let me finish, Vladimir. ... Well listen, how do you think I feel about it?! ...Can you *imagine* how I feel about it, Vladimir? ... Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello? ... *Of course* I like to speak to you! ... *Of course* I like to say hello! ... Not now, but anytime, Vladimir. I'm just calling up to tell you something terrible has happened... It's a *friendly* call. Of course it's a friendly call. ... Listen, if it wasn't friendly ... you probably wouldn't have even got it. ... They will *not* reach their targets for at least another hour. ... I am ... I am positive, Vladimir. ... Listen, I've been all over this with your ambassador. It is not a trick. ... Well, I'll tell you. We'd like to give your air staff a complete run-down on the targets, the flight plans, and the defensive systems of the planes. ... Yes! I mean i-i-i-if we're unable to recall the planes, then ... I'd say that, ah ... well, ah ... we're just gonna have to help you destroy them, Vladimir. ... I know they're our boys. ... All right, well listen now. Who should we call? ...*Who* should we call, Vladimir? The ... wha-whe, the People... you, sorry, you faded away there.... The People's Central Air Defense Headquarters. ... Where is that, Vladimir? ... In Omsk. ... Right. ... Yes. ...Oh, you'll call them first, will you? ... Uh-hu ... Listen, do you happen to have the phone number on you, Vladimir? ... Whe-ah, what? I see, just ask for Omsk information. ...Ah-ah-eh-uhm-hm ... I'm sorry, too, Vladimir. ...I'm very sorry. ... *All right*, you're sorrier than I am, but I am as sorry as well. ... I am as sorry as you are, Vladimir! Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are. ... So we're both sorry, all right?! ... All right.

  8. Cyberway arms race by faustoc4 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This only confirms an article by Bruce Schneir that I just read, he surmises if the U.S has started a secret cyberwar arms race putting all internet infrastructure at perils. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/opinion/schneier-cyberwar-policy/index.html "... advance U.S. national objectives around the world with little or no warning to the adversary or target and with potential effects ranging from subtle to severely damaging" fuckers

  9. Cyber war games by gmuslera · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The only way to win is that no one plays it. But as there is a player (i.e. the elephant/donkey on the room that is US), everyone lose. And i don't mean government or citizens of some particular nation, i mean mankind as a whole.

    1. Re:Cyber war games by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      But as there is a player (i.e. the elephant/donkey on the room that is US), everyone lose.

      So you're dumb enough to ignore something like this and put all of the blame on the US. Let me guess, you're not from the US, yet you'll use the Internet which WE invented (and don't get me started on Berners-Lee; he simply wrote an implementation of the ideas and research of Bush, Engelbart, and Nelson).

      Yes, it's always the Yankees fault. Quit using the net if you don't like it and move back to your cave.

  10. Nice timing. by chrullrich · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It certainly is no accident that today is the 50th anniversary of the agreement to set up the original Hot Line.

    1. Re:Nice timing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Yeah, coming on the heels of Obama's JFK-redux speech in Berlin, one of the defining Cold War moments. There's a conscious effort on to portray Obama as a Cold War leader. Certainly an abrupt departure from earlier characterizations like the US-Russian "reset" (an annoying metaphor—as if the world were a video game that you could reset at will whenever you didn't like your position).

      So the question is, who is the new Cold Opponent? Who is the Evil Empire? And does all this justify PRISM or something else?

    2. Re:Nice timing. by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

      There's a conscious effort on to portray Obama as a Cold War leader.

      Obama has always portrayed himself as MLK's "dream" and JFK's ghost all rolled into one. Not dissimilar to how Jesus portrayed himself as the "lamb" that was prophesied in the old testament. He certainly has the eloquence of the civil rights leaders but it will be a couple of generations before anyone can tell if he has had as much significance.

      The recent UN compromise between Putin & Obama to work towards a caretaker government in Syria looks promising from a humanitarian and civil rights POV, but it's to the great shame of both nations that it's taken them 2yrs of bloodshed to get that far.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  11. Keep your friends close... by Myria · · Score: 1

    ...and your enemies closer.

    --
    "Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
  12. using twitter hotline? by goffster · · Score: 4, Funny

    @putin, WTF is up with goddamn @assad?
    @obama, you have no proof #WMD.
    @putin, no proof, WTF were those #sarin loaded missles?
    @obama, perhaps #israel fired them and put blame on #syria.
    @putin, you are a pussy.

    1. Re:using twitter hotline? by betterprimate · · Score: 1

      @obama, what are you wearing? @putin, the commander in chief goes commando, no briefs

    2. Re:using twitter hotline? by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

      In the dark ages, Putin (ex: KGB 'commando') would have sailed to the US on a Viking boat, personally kicked the crap out of Bush/Obama, and told Americans they would all have to get used to being paid in vodka.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    3. Re:using twitter hotline? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      In the dark ages, Putin (ex: KGB 'commando') would have sailed to the US on a Viking boat, personally kicked the crap out of Bush/Obama, and told Americans they would all have to get used to being paid in vodka.

      Oh.. a funny story relating to that. Vikings were used in pacification of Russia into Russia.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  13. What the hell? by flargleblarg · · Score: 2

    FTFA:

    In a move eerily reminiscent of the Cold War, the US and Russia have set up a hotline to avoid an accidental or catastrophic cyber war, after two years of discussing how best to collaborate on online threats.

    The two companies want to “reduce the possibility that a misunderstood cyber incident could create instability or a crisis in our bilateral relationship”, according to a fact sheet from the White House.

    Both Russia and the US are hotbeds of cyber criminal activity, and both are thought to be throwing much funding into military efforts in cyber too.

    Emphasis mine.

    WTF?

    1. Re:What the hell? by game+kid · · Score: 2

      Corporations are states too!

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
  14. Shouldn't it be between the US and China? by Arancaytar · · Score: 2

    Because it's not like the US and Russia are the ones consistently at each others' throats over alleged cyber attacks.

  15. Why don't they... by Ginger_Chris · · Score: 1

    just set up a facebook group?

  16. Not what it'll actually be used for by oobayly · · Score: 1

    I can see it mainly being used to request information on citizens than aren't allowed to be spied on by their own government. I'm sure Downing Street will be getting involved in this too.

  17. Re:I've seen Dollhouse by brickmack · · Score: 1

    Did I fall asleep?

  18. Talk of hotlines reminds me of Yes, Prime Minister by caseih · · Score: 1

    Every time I read about setting up hotlines between governments on various things, I think of this classic episode from Yes, Prime Minister, "The Grand Design."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=diuQiXt5qE4#t=45s

    Prime Minister: So in an emergency I can get straight through to the Soviet president?

    General: Theoretically, yes.

    PM: Theoretically?

    General: It's what we tell journalists. Ha Ha Ha. In fact we did once get through to the Kremlin, but only to a switchboard operator.

    PM: Couldn't the operator put you through?

    General: We never found out. Didn't seem to speak much English.

    PM: How often is it tested?

    Sir Humphreys: Well they try not to test it too often. It tends to create unnecessary panic at the other end and panic is always a good thing to avoid where nuclear weapons are concerned, don't you think?

  19. I've seen the actual "hotline" by sirwired · · Score: 1

    On a tour of the Joint Intelligence facilities in the Pentagon many (15) years ago, we got to walk past the room with the actual hotline (it's not in the White House, or even some buried secret Pentagon sub-basement.) It's a closet with a door with a bored-looking officer in there, along with a teletype. It has a phone, but it was connected to the DoD phone system, not Russia.