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ARTICLE:  Pentagon Readies its Cyberwar Defences

Does the thought of Cyberwar scare you?  Cyber attacks could literally turn your life upside down.  This article caught my attention this week as I was browsing through the topics in my Google reader.  Cyber attacks are on the rise and becoming more sophisticated as we develop and improve technology.  In 2007, military computers in Germany and the United States were hacked into by foreign entities most likely looking for critical information knocking them temporarily offline.  How do you feel when your internet service is down for a few hours?  Do you get anxious?  As we become more dependent upon technology to run our lives, we are putting ourselves at risk for attack.

In this article, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon revealed “that cyber-weapons are to be added to the list of arms falling under the remit of the UN’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, which develops policy on weapons of mass destruction.”  Did you know that you have a weapon of mass destruction right in your home!  The potential is a staggering thought!

Shortly after I got connected to the internet in the late 90’s, I had installed some firewall software that detects intrusion attempts.  I was very surprised to see the number of attempts to access my computer from various parts of the world.  There are people that randomly try to see what computers respond to their “hacker” efforts and usually travel paths of least resistence to unprotected computers.

Identity thefts are increasing along with other types of information being illegally obtained from you and from me.  Often, it is being obtained from someone in another country or someone in an area outside our laws and jurisdiction.  So, what do we do?

I recently read about a group of sophisticated hackers that were for hire by foreign governments and operated on remote islands in international locations.  Their objectives were to break into government computers, obtain information and then sell it.  How safe do you think your personal information is that is stored online?

In order to deal with the international threat of cyber attacks, the Pentagon is developing a centre at which the military can play realistic electronic war games in an effort to sharpen their skills in development of defensive weapons against such attacks.  A spokesman from a security company states, “computer scientists do not yet know how to defend critical systems against attacks and we are largely blind and ignorant of how to protect ourselves against cyber-attacks.”  That is a scary scenario.

Power stations, water utilties, nuclear plants, chemical plants and communication facilities are all possible targets for attacks which could drastically disrupt our lives.  Technology in the East is being escalated by the fact that many of our U.S. companies are outsourcing chip making to these locations.  The worry is that someone will insert a hardware-based virus into the chips to collect data from unsuspecting users around the world.  Attacks could be launched by chips implanted within things such as refrigerators, televisions and cars.  This makes it much easier for the technology to fall into the hands of cyber terrorists and anyone that wishes to do harm to our systems.

Here is the irony of this article.  In order to protect ourselves, we must be proactive in creating a defensive, early warning network using technology in order to safeguard ourselves.  The article points out that senior military leaders have an attitude towards computers as being equivalent to toasters.  Many teachers view computers in a similar way and do not take advantage of a tool that could dramatically transform the learning experiences of their students.

Until our military leaders embrace technology and how it can be used in a greater capacity to protect us, we will be susceptible to cyber attacks from all over the world.  The threat of destabilizing our country without sending a troop across the border is a staggering thought.

Just like virus protectors on our computers warn us when a virus or spyware tries to invade our workspace, we need to focus on developing technologies to detect intrusions from all levels and protect our systems against attackers.