For decades, Sci-Fi writers have frantically written the future, attempting to nail it down before it arrived. Pending the mass production of flying cars or psychic internet surfing, however, we who live in the increasingly less mundane present can sometimes catch a glimpse of it.
There was, for example, the cyber-barrage unleashed by Russian hackers that effectively disrupted Estonia's government for a number of days.
(For those interested in such things, Wired magazine has several articles describing how it went down in their archives, and some of it is fascinating.)
Far more troublesome for us here, though, have been the Chinese hackers.
They have caused massive (and under-reported) trouble to defense websites, emails systems, and gotten away with some restricted information. And that's just what has been made public.
Now, it seems the French are learning about this difficult-to-counter expression of Chinese disapproval, after Sarkozy dared to meet with the Dalai Llama. Shortly after, the French embassy in Beijing's website went down.
China, of course, denies it was any official move by their government, which may actually be more or less true. In the infinite web of personal connections within Chinese culture, nearly nothing need be official in a literal sense. However, that doesn't mean they weren't directly responsible either, and I suspect there is some incentivizing going on for Chinese hackers.
Lately I have been slowly digesting a tome recounting WWII, the Pacific Front, and it's been incredibly interesting. One thing that stands out again and again is how American code-breakers supplied the crucial intelligence we needed to form effective strategies and keep ahead of the opponent.
In today's information-based warfare, this edge is no longer a bonus, but absolutely crucial. China's invasive hacker force is a standing liability, as we've seen from their attacks on defense networks.
In the event of a diplomatic or even military stand-off (over Taiwan, exports, China trying to sink our economy by massive debt off-loading, etc)
this resource could be used with great effectiveness.
What are we doing to counter this threat? Making little feints and false-starts in various directions, as usual. If history is any guide, it will take a massive cyber-coup drastically reducing our effectiveness before the military gets serious about starting a force to combat this threat. So far the Air Force has been on the forefront of these efforts, but has not been going about it in either a consistent or particularly logical manner.
The future remains to be seen, but with the world becoming daily a more interesting place, I hope we don't have to suffer a digital Pearl Harbor before we get our act together and take real steps to counter this threat. Right now, it's open season.
-()4|<.
There was, for example, the cyber-barrage unleashed by Russian hackers that effectively disrupted Estonia's government for a number of days.
(For those interested in such things, Wired magazine has several articles describing how it went down in their archives, and some of it is fascinating.)
Far more troublesome for us here, though, have been the Chinese hackers.
They have caused massive (and under-reported) trouble to defense websites, emails systems, and gotten away with some restricted information. And that's just what has been made public.
Now, it seems the French are learning about this difficult-to-counter expression of Chinese disapproval, after Sarkozy dared to meet with the Dalai Llama. Shortly after, the French embassy in Beijing's website went down.
China, of course, denies it was any official move by their government, which may actually be more or less true. In the infinite web of personal connections within Chinese culture, nearly nothing need be official in a literal sense. However, that doesn't mean they weren't directly responsible either, and I suspect there is some incentivizing going on for Chinese hackers.
Lately I have been slowly digesting a tome recounting WWII, the Pacific Front, and it's been incredibly interesting. One thing that stands out again and again is how American code-breakers supplied the crucial intelligence we needed to form effective strategies and keep ahead of the opponent.
In today's information-based warfare, this edge is no longer a bonus, but absolutely crucial. China's invasive hacker force is a standing liability, as we've seen from their attacks on defense networks.
In the event of a diplomatic or even military stand-off (over Taiwan, exports, China trying to sink our economy by massive debt off-loading, etc)
this resource could be used with great effectiveness.
What are we doing to counter this threat? Making little feints and false-starts in various directions, as usual. If history is any guide, it will take a massive cyber-coup drastically reducing our effectiveness before the military gets serious about starting a force to combat this threat. So far the Air Force has been on the forefront of these efforts, but has not been going about it in either a consistent or particularly logical manner.
The future remains to be seen, but with the world becoming daily a more interesting place, I hope we don't have to suffer a digital Pearl Harbor before we get our act together and take real steps to counter this threat. Right now, it's open season.
-()4|<.
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1 comment:
The digital battlefield is a little different than the world's military leaders initially defined it.
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