The recently retired top cyber cop of the FBI, Shawn Henry, stated that “the status quo, it’s an unsustainable model. Unsustainable in that you never get ahead, never become secure, never have a reasonable expectation of privacy or security.” The sky is not falling, but if the US persists in dragging its feet, ground will continue to be lost. There is much that can be done to better protect America in the cyber world. All of them trace back to failures of leadership. The blame lies very broadly at the … More
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Internet censorship is rampant in the Middle East. Now, the Palestinian Authority is accused of trying to silence government opponents on the Web. There is irony in this, as the Palestinians portray themselves to the international community as victims of Israel. But when it comes to internal politics, their leaders have shown that they can be as undemocratic and as tough as any in the Middle East. This week, the Palestinian minister for communications, Mashour Abu Daqa, resigned after accusing senior officials of shutting down opposition websites over the past … More
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Somebody hacked a Taliban website. Big surprise. Actually, no surprise. No surprise that the Taliban and other terrorists groups are online. When the issues of terrorism and the Internet are joined in one conversation, most people talk about the threat of cyberterrorism. But the reality is that terrorists mostly use the Web just like the rest of us—to get things done. Terrorists use the Internet for recruiting, propaganda, fundraising, planning, and coordinating. Some have even used it to do reconnaissance for terrorist attack. The terrorists who attacked Mumbai in 2008 … More
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We are being attacked on all sides—and it is not the hacker in the basement we need to worry about most. It is the cyber super powers. China leads the way, particularly the Chinese military and intelligence services, which are enamored with online warfare. There are also more citizens online in China than in any other country on the planet. Many of them have been recruited to serve in the nation’s online militia. Most of China’s netizens are cyber nationalists who view the West—particularly us—with distrust. Every day, the U.S. … More
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An ace hacker brought down by the FBI gave up enough on fellow members of the shadowy hackavist group Anonymous to indict six individuals in Europe and the United States. If there is an object lesson in this story, it is a reminder that most of our thinking about battling bad actors online is badly muddled. Most think cybersecurity is about our electrons battling their electrons—that the challenge is a technical issue about managing the Internet. That is just flat wrong—about the same as arguing that gun control controls crime. … More
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Anonymous, the shadowy hactivist group, may have just declared war on the United States. This raises questions: How would we know, and what does this really mean? The always troubling question for cyber-warriors is “attribution”—do you really know whom you are fighting? Sorting out evil actors online is difficult, but it can be done. Computer forensics (the science and technology of tracking down malicious online actors) has advanced every bit as much as the enemy’s ability to write new malware. After all, major malicious actors like GhostNet and RBN in … More
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Think back 20 years ago. What were you doing? Whatever answer you came up with, it probably had nothing to do with the Internet, which was just coming of age. As James Carafano points out in his article in the Washington Examiner today, the discovery a valuable new world brings with it the need to protect that world. Nearly everything in our lives today is connected to the Internet. You possibly woke up to your iPhone buzzing from an e-mail from your boss and then turned on the lights that … More
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During a presidential debate on Thursday night, all four Republican candidates denounced pending legislation aimed at combating online piracy. Their responses came in the midst of mass congressional defections, especially among Republicans, as major websites protest the bills. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), would give the Justice Department expansive powers to shut down sites that host content infringing on American intellectual property laws. While most of the bills’ opponents acknowledge the need for IP enforcement, they argue that its powers … More
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As of midnight, Wikipedia is shut down for 24 hours, and hundreds of other popular websites have gone dark right along with it. They are standing together in protest of two controversial pieces of legislation that threaten Internet security and undermine the freedom of speech all in an effort to crack down on online “piracy” — the illegal distribution of copyrighted material. Hollywood, the music industry, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have gone to bat on behalf of the proposed laws on the grounds that they will help protect … More
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Is Congress about to limit freedom of speech on the Internet? Two bills wending their way through the Senate and the House may do just that. The proposals, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are aimed at stopping foreign-based Web sites from distributing copyrighted material, such as Hollywood movies, in violation of U.S. law. Such online “piracy” is a real problem, and since many of the so-called pirate sites distributing content are based off-shore, they have been able to operate without interference. … More
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