cyberenviro.org » cyberdominance

DefenseTech: Cyber Terrorism Now Tops List of U.S. Security Concerns

gtdonovan — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:19:46 +0000

From the article: In the shadow of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States finds itself facing a different threat from terrorists. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano recently stated that, “The U.S. … Continue reading →

France24: Scientists warn of ‘dangerous over-reliance’ on GPS

gtdonovan — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:25:30 +0000

From the article: "The Royal Academy of Engineering said the application of GPS was now so broad, from car sat-navs to the time stamp on financial transactions, that without adequate backup, any disruption could have a major impact." Continue reading →

Raw Story: Air Force ordered software to manage army of fake virtual people

gtdonovan — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:42:26 +0000

From the article: "the software would require licenses for 50 users with 10 personas each... These personas would be replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent. Continue reading →

TPM Idea Lab: Robotic Hummingbirds, Neural-Interface Technologies: DARPA Makes Its 2012 Budget Request

gtdonovan — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:35:01 +0000

From the article: "Cyber Camouflage, Concealment, and Deception (C3D) ($15.8 million) … C3D will develop novel approaches for protecting cyber systems that mimic camouflage concealment, and deception in the physical world." Continue reading →

WikiLeaks/WikiWeapon

gtdonovan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:06:57 +0000

Welcome to the informational: where jailbreaking your iPhone is a threat to national security, the global dominance of Goldman Sacks depends on government-based policing of proprietary trading code, and WikiLeaks is a thermonuclear device.

From the transcript of Andrew Marr’s interview with Mark Stephens (WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s lawyer):

ANDREW MARR: Now another thing that we read today is that he has a file, a further file of even more damaging and explosive information which he is keeping as a kind of insurance policy.

[ . . . ]

MARK STEPHENS: Well I think the problem is that they have been the subject of the cyber attacks, they’ve been the subject of censorship around the world and they need to protect themselves, and this is I think what they believe to be a thermonuclear device effectively in the electronic age. (emphasis added)

The nouns may change but the verbs stay the same.

-UPDATE 12.09.2010 @ 11:25AM-

In a Washington Post OpEd, the neocons at the American Enterprise Institute ratchet up the WikiLeaks/WikiWeapon rhetoric (h/t IGP Blog):

Like the war on terror, we have been attacked in this new cyber war in ways we did not anticipate . . .

. . . He recently announced through his lawyer that if he is arrested, he will unleash a “thermonuclear device” of completely unexpurgated government files. Think about that: Assange has threatened America with the cyber equivalent of thermonuclear war . . .

. . . If WikiLeaks is treating this as a war in cyberspace, America should do the same. The first step is to rally a coalition of the willing to defeat WikiLeaks by shutting down its servers and cutting off its finances . . .

. . . Governments that provide WikiLeaks with virtual safe havens should be told in no uncertain terms: “You are either with us, or you are with WikiLeaks.” (emphasis added)

From the same people that championed the Iraq War before there was a 9/11: You are either with us, or you are against us with WikiLeaks.

Wired: Military’s Cyber Commander Swears “No Role” in Civilian Networks

gtdonovan — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:43:10 +0000

From the article: "Debates have raged for years in military and policymaking circles about what a Cyber Command might do: drop logic bombs on adversaries, protect the Pentagon’s networks, seal up civilian vulnerabilities, or some combination of all 3. Continue reading →

Securing Cyberspace in 60 Minutes

gtdonovan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:32:50 +0000

This past Sunday, 60 Minutes did a segment on cybersecurity titled “Cyberwar: Sabotaging the System.” The segment mostly focused on the “new” national security issues that cyberspace presents, while barely discussing how many of these “new” cybersecurity issues are — at least in part — caused by traditional social engineering. One example being 60 Minutes’ discussion of how CENTCOM‘s networks were infiltrated by an unknown foreign entity that was able to monitor and record all of CENTCOM’s network activity. A serious security breach, but one that is believed to be caused by modified flash drives that were left in physical areas where U.S. military personal would pick them up and use them. When these flash drives were inserted into a CENTCOM computer, it’s believed they unleashed a code that opened a backdoor to the network that allowed the foreign entity to spy.

The most interesting interview from the segment was with James Andrew Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Towards the end of his interview, Lewis offered an excellent explanation of why the U.S. has come to see cyberspace as a matter of national security and of how U.S. cyberdominance is being rationalized:

. . . if you talk to the Russians or the Chinese they say “how can you complain about us when you do exactly the same thing?” It’s a fair point, with one exception. We have more to steal. We have more to loose. We’re the place that depends on the Internet, we’ve done the most to take advantage of it. We’re the ones who have woven it into our economy, into our national security, in ways that they haven’t. So, we are more vulnerable.

The quote reveals an odd contradiction: “We” are repeatedly told by governments, corporations, and various individuals that weaving the Internet into our environment will bring more security – at the same time “we” are told by those same actors that weaving the Internet into our environment makes us less secure.