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Sunday
May092010

15 Minutes to Apocalypse – The Cyber Warfare Threat

DateSunday, May 9, 2010 at 5:05PM | |

When most people think of cyber warfare, they are probably thinking of a battle taking place sometime in the future. The other thought most people probably have is they think the United States as a being a leader in this area.

The truth is cyber warfare is already here and the United States is lagging far behind. Not only that but a majority of all services deemed as critical infrastructure are in the hands or under control of the private sector.

Currently 30 countries are known to have viable offensive and defensive cyber warfare capabilities with the top potential threats recognized as being Russia, China, and believe it or not North Korea, which is also the most dangerous country to have these capabilities. North Korea has already taken out systems run by the U.S. Treasury, Secret Service, and Federal Trade Commission.

Cyber warfare is a reality in today's world - Timeline of Cyber Attacks since May 2006 - which will likely be used in combination with conventional attacks and as stand alone attacks far into the future from here on.

While some point to these threats as fear mongering, unrealistic, and even as impossible to pull off I would venture to say they do not fully appreciate just how vulnerable we are should a massive attack bring down much of our infrastructure.

One thing to note about these types of attacks is the social engineering aspect, which no amount of security hardware or software can protect against. We need to better train employees to understand phishing attacks, to guard passwords, what to look and listen for during the social engineer aspect of any attack. Good security practices should incorporate continuous training with real world examples.

As the recent attacks against Google, Rackspace and others showed our private sector is just as much a target for malicious attacks. We must remain vigilant and proper training training is an important part of securing our networks.

See the Reference link below for more detailed information on this.

 

 

AuthorKeith Erwood | Comment1 Comment | Reference5 References
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References (5)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
  • Source
    Source: Cyber attack 'could fell US within 15 minutes'
    by Alex Spillius at Telegraph on May 7, 2010
    Ironically, the United States is currently far more vulnerable to cyberwar than Russia or China, or even North Korea, because those countries have not only concentrated on their cyber defences but are less reliant on the internet. "We must have the ability to turn off our connection to the internet and still be able to continue to operate," Mr Knake, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the Daily Telegraph. "Relying on a system as precarious as the internet is a big mistake
  • Source
    Source: Cyberattackers stole Google's password system
    by Angela Moscaritolo at SC Magazine on April 20, 2010
    The sophisticated, targeted cyberattack originated from China and “resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google,” the search giant disclosed in a Jan 12 blog post.
  • Source
    Source: The Oil Spill: Accident or Cyber Attack?
    by Greg Guma at Toward Freedom on May 11, 2010
    "It's underappreciated how vulnerable some of these systems are," said Jeff Vail, a former counterterrorism and intelligence analyst with the US Interior Department who talked with Greg Grant, author of the Foreign Policy article. "It is possible, if you really understood them, to cause catastrophic damage by causing safety systems to fail."
  • Source
    Source: Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies
    by SIOBHAN GORMAN at WSJ on April 8, 2009
    "Over the past several years, we have seen cyberattacks against critical infrastructures abroad, and many of our own infrastructures are as vulnerable as their foreign counterparts," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair recently told lawmakers. "A number of nations, including Russia and China, can disrupt elements of the U.S. information infrastructure."
  • Response
    Response: social engineering forums
    at social engineering forums on October 6, 2014
    Disaster Preparedness Blog - Emergency Preparedness Tips, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Emergency Management - DISASTER PREPAREDNESS BLOG - 15 Minutes to Apocalypse – The Cyber Warfare Threat

Reader Comments (1)

Can u please explain me safety rules to observe when working with electrical equipment?thanks

May 14, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterpat testers

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