Slashdot Mirror
CIA Considering Cyberwarfare
An anonymouse reader wrote in to say "This story reveals that the CIA will consider the use of computers to conduct a cyberwar against Yugoslovian President Slobodan Milsoevic, in addition to more traditional ways to destabilize the Yugoslov government. "
Information is warfare these days. Its kinda scary.
I'm sorry, but this isn't exactly news. Well, it's news that they're going to use it against Milosevic, but it's not news that Information Warfare aka Cyberwarfare exists. The Pentagon has been working on it for a long time, and there are also lots of Cyberwarfare scenarios.
By the way, the country that is most vulnerable to Cyberwarfare is the USA. Literally everything is run by or with the aid of computers. Good Cyberwarfare could criple the US completely. Yugoslavia however is probably pretty much impervious to Cyberwarfare because most of the country is run without computers.
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humor,
Never underestimate the power of stupidity
To err is human, to moo bovine
Posted by mgegqekk:
The Big Question:
How long will it take for us to destroy Yugoslavia's military? According to Albright we are 33% done and it has taken 2 months and 60k sorties. Assuming the same rate of destruction per sortie and a constant rate of sorties we should be done in 6 months and 180k sorties (from the start of the "war").
Of course, those are big assumptions. Since I don't have access to military plans, I'll have to stick with the old adage that "it takes 90% of the time to get the last 10% of the work done". So we should reach 90% in 5.4 months (162k sorties). But that was only 10% of the needed time, according to our rule of thumb. Therefore we should be done with the last of Yugoslavia's military in a mere 54 months and 1.62 million sorties. Fall of 2003 anyone?
Wired News just sent out a story about this same topic:
http://www.wired.com/news/ news/politics/story/19836.html
... that's all i wrote...
What the US needs to consider is this:
Premise: We are entering the information age. This means that information is power.
Premise: To utilize information effectively, we need education.
Conclusion: We need better education in order to succeed in the information age.
So remind me, how much do we pay our teachers???
How does this relate to cyber-warfare? Well, if all the tech jobs suck up our techs because there aren't enough of them due to poor education, then there aren't enough spooks (=information age soldier) to defend our country and our networks.
-B
As for the usefulness of electronic warfare against the Serbs (proud [now former] makers of the esteemed Yugo), I think you may be slightly underestimating the technology available to and in use by the Serb government and their media machine that rivals MSNBC in jingoism....
though I agree its usefulness will be about the same as anything else we have done over there so far, which is to say not useful at all.
But as for American vulnerability to cyber attacks, do you really think Americans wouldn't patiently dive into a dark period without technology? Seems to me that Europeans are generally less afraid of technology than Americans are. I think most Americans would see a major cyber-warfare hit as a pleasant "vacation from all this B.S.
Regards,
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
The part I find disturbing is the bit about attacking Milosevic's foreign bank accounts. Which I assume is illegal in those countries. Way to set a good example, government. *sigh*
--
I think that the US again makes their usual error of judging military options on the effect they would have on themselves instead of the enemy.
While even a partial breakdown of the IT infrastrucure would have a devastating effect on a country like the US where you even pay your hambuger by creditcard and most economic transactions involve the exchange of information instead of actual goods, this clearly isn't the case with the more traditional economy of Yugoslavia.
The same hold true for the strategic bombardments: The Americans never had war on their territory and therefor react very senitive to own miltary losses (remember the 3 three captured GIs), while Europe and esp. the Balkans have a long tradition of warfare and won't get demoralised so quickly by a high-tech air campaign.
IMHO the NATO alliance would have done better in systematically arming and training the UCK (and maybe offering them tactical air support) than, after months of ineffective bombardments, being drawn into a guerilla war that they are unprepared and unwilling to deal with.
This story didn't say anything the first time it was on the CNN homepage. Why should now be different?
Here's the techie synopsis:
The CIA is authorized to investigate means of distabilizing the Milosevic government.
Nothing cyber, nothing tech, nothing new.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Politicians want to mandate that secure products use key escrow. Who's going to buy a product when a government that openly engages in "cyberwarfare" holds the spare key?
Not that key escrow or this war are right in the first place...
I consider this as scary fact. If US Government legitimizes 'hacking' as form of warfare, there will be nothing to stop any other country from doing it.
For example, report talks about 'attacking Milosevic's bank accounts'. Presumably held in countries other than US, since in US, Clinton can order the funds frozen or seize them. Now, US is not at war with those third countries (most likely it will be Cyprus), but will be actively trying to rob those countries banks, while maintaining complete diplomatic relations.
Consider following. Lybia trying to break into UK banks to steal money held by (whoever) in UK. It will now be perfectly legitimate to do that without declaration of war or anything. Scary thought.
Why exactly did sources within the CIA leak this to CNN? If this is supposed to be classified, why are elements within the CIA talking to a press organization that is closely watched around the world?
Maybe this is just a feignt? It makes no sense to say hey Mr. Bad Guy better look out we are gonna hax0r j00r computers. I think this is more a leak just to frighten Milosovic and his government and force them to waste resources trying to defend their informational structure against a non-existent attack.
The true story here is that CNN, Slashdot and others were the actual weapons here...spreading disinformation. We all know how powerful a weapon FUD is... This time its the CIA doing it instead of Microsoft.
And if I'm wrong, there should be some people thrown into jail for compromising a classified operation during time of war.
Since its inception, arguably some of the 'best' (if such a term can be used), most devious, and damaging cracking has its origins under instable and/or repressive european regimes; Germany, Bulgaria come to mind. Repression has always, and will only promote cracking.
This said, is the US prepared for possible repercussions from any 'cyber-warfare'?