There Is No Cyberwar 149
crowfeather notes an interview with cybersecurity czar Howard Schmidt that Wired's Threat Level conducted this week. "Howard Schmidt, the new cybersecurity czar for the Obama administration, has a short answer for the drumbeat of rhetoric claiming the United States is caught up in a cyberwar that it is losing. 'There is no cyberwar,' Schmidt told Wired.com in a sit-down interview Wednesday at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco. 'I think that is a terrible metaphor and I think that is a terrible concept,' Schmidt said. 'There are no winners in that environment.' Instead, Schmidt said the government needs to focus its cybersecurity efforts to fight online crime and espionage. His stance contradicts Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence who made headlines last week when he testified to Congress that the country was already in the midst of a cyberwar — and was losing it. ... There's been much ink spilled in recent years over the turf battles in D.C. over whether the NSA (representing the military) or DHS (on the civilian side) takes the lead role in cybersecurity. But... "I haven't seen that tension," Schmidt said. As for which will take the cybersecurity lead, Schmidt simply says it's a shared effort."
There is no cyberwar... (Score:5, Insightful)
And he's right. (Score:3, Insightful)
This guy sounds out of touch (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:And he's right. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And he's right. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:All this cyberwar bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare#History_of_attacks
Doesn't really matter if it's China behind any of it to call it a cyber war.
CyberWar becomes Fiber War (Score:4, Insightful)
The US has shown it possess the technology to splice underwater fiber cables and tap them. Google it, they've already done it in the North Sea.
And that is the trump card. China launches a major offensive against the world, they better have routes down through Korea, because every trans-pacific cable leading to the mainland will get cut in minutes.
Aptly? (Score:4, Insightful)
If it's a war, then the Constitution requires Congress to declare it. We have wars on poverty, drugs, terrorism; why do we need to further dilute what it means to be at war? I find Schmidt's comments refreshing; perhaps we could have a rational discussion about security without needlessly ratcheting up the fear machine. Traditionally wars had beginnings and endings -- that is to say, they had structure (not to be quaint). When we're eternally at war with concepts, it numbs the sentiment.
Re:This guy sounds out of touch (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see how emailing your post to the white house could fail to do the job. I mean "sounds out of touch"? How can anyone read that and not know he's not suited for the job?
Seriously, focusing on online crime and espionage without re-engineering the internet to eliminate anonymity, instead of focusing on a Cyber-War buzzword with all the "but we're at war!" excuses for doing whatever they want? That's no way to exercise executive power! You're so right; how incompetent can you get?!
Re:All this cyberwar bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/133301/pentagon_shuts_down_systems_after_cyberattack.html
What would you call a regular series of attacks on our military headquarters using computers, hmmm? A compu-insurgency? Techno-terrorism? Cyberwarfare seems pretty apt to me.
Re:All this cyberwar bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a cyber war, but it's within our own government, and it's over who gets the budget dollars to fight it.
Let's see ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd call it "the daily life of a firewall". Seriously, check your firewall logs. Mine are being "attacked" every hour of every day and I'm not a military installation.
IBM layoffs and coporate espionage (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:All this cyberwar bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This guy sounds out of touch (Score:3, Insightful)
The curent attacks on the US infrastructure are simply finding our many weaknesses and no matter of sticking our heads in the sand will stop it. The only way to stop it is to start taking a proactive approach, shoring up our weaknesses, and start doing the same to our enemies.
Huh, that sounds like a familiar sentiment. Where have I heard it? Oh yeah, TFA!
Get it? "Shoring up our weaknesses" is exactly what he's talking about. What he's also saying is that you don't have to cry "Oh my god we're in a CYBERWAR!" and then use that to justify destroying privacy on the internet like McDonnel wanted to do.
Re:All this cyberwar bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)
as it stands any cyberwar launched by a government would be missed in the noise due to insignificance next to the legions of botnets, script kiddies, hackers, crackers and miscellaneous.