Black Hat: Cyberspace is the new military domain

There's abundant evidence that gov'ts fear they've lost control of the net -- if they ever had it, so I'd refine that to say that gov'ts can no longer be assured that any Official Story put out will be accepted by the majority. We've been lied to so frequently that even the dullest are noticing.

The present Wikileaks flap is prime example. Instead of being hailed for exposing the banal evils of day to day secret wars, it's turning out that Wikileaks and Assange are coming under scrutiny. In brief, the "leak" is mostly old news: few need further proof that atrocities are being committed. The message of the leak is that Afghanistan is lost, so let's move on to invading Pakistan and Iran. That may be the CIA attempting to stifle further military use that's become counter-productive, OR may be just the next step of overall goal to widen the Eternal War. But just looking into the Assange character -- who flies around freely despite being branded as harming US national security -- is enough to make one doubt that it's a *valid* leak, DESPITE sourcing the damning video of the helicopter gunship attack.

Referring to Hayden's comment that cyberspace is the man made domain for war and one whereby it is in the attacker's favor while difficult to trace. Well, it is true and false. Sad to note even Hayden himself is unable to distinguish the facts from the recent spate of activities.

Firstly, cyberspace is the superhighway of the future and one of the most useful means for education as well as business. It is a remarkable invention and is never harmful unless somebody initiates some act which are against the law. In case one is not aware, it was government who initiated unauthorized tapping in civilian computer that caused the uproar. The worse is that it continue despite protest and confidential work is circulated globally by governments. So in such a case, the attacker is actually the government not the party who retaliated to the initial action. Nice try but when an event is so publicized it is evidence by itself. No matter how one covers up or down play the event it is guilty with overwhelming evidence.

Secondly, it was already mentioned that the infrastructure itself is not harmful but rather those using it (especially those violating the laws). So much money is spent yearly on cyber security development defense systems against attack but with no avail. It has now been pointed out that the most worrying point here is when government go against the law. It doesn't matter how much military power or cyber sophistication a government has but the simple act of violation opens up the entire network to attack (legally) with as simple as words. So governments should learn a lesson, admit their fault while pay the compensation without making the issue a bigger shame. A wise government will wipe its mess and quietly close case to avoid such an embarrassing event but I suppose there is always room for what we call a professional f.up. It sounds better this way I guess.

Thirdly, it is wrong to say that the attacker has the advantage and it is difficult to trace. In the recent case, government is actually the attacker and it was traced. I think the point he is trying to say is that by the time action is pursued the attacker would have disappeared. If one is aware of the controversy lately or rather had a copy of the unauthorized work for internet security solutions were mentioned. There is a much cheaper and full prove way to ensure nobody gets away but unfortunately it never had the chance as it is more profitable to play with hundreds of billions in government funds and get nowhere under classified experiment. Cybersecurity is under classified while amount spent and experiments conducted is never reviewed to public. In fact, the work also covers internet governance, infrastructure and e-commerce security. It is a state of the art security protocol which will be the future of security verifications for internet transactions, banking and even resolves the billions of credit card fraud. Unfortunately credit card firms did not take note of the advantage while the world got loss how powerful this invention is because they were too busy extracting without paying.

When governments couldn't get their way by force they downplay the work and forgot the prior collaboration and tapping is illegal. It doesn't make sense how they rather spent hundreds of billions year after year when there is a solution that is cheaper and far more powerful while usable across many platforms. Like it or not it will be the future of security protocol in the not too distant future. When it is implemented there is no way anyone will get away. All the issues currently facing the internet will be resolved in one go. Governments need to wake up to admit that there are mistakes in the current way of operating and until they are willing to change billions will still be wasted year after year (especially in unnecessary areas like useless security system, stakeholder competition and military power). It cracked with words because they went against the law and open up the entire country to a possible collapse. The events of this will be unfolding in the near future and it should have been prevented but instead they insisted on continuing with illegal activities (tapping, extracting ideas, refusal to commit to meaning work in black and white).

Despite the events, the consolation is perhaps the acknowledgment that the current administration is more receptive to new ideologies. Much still needs to be questioned on approach, transparency and corruption. All of which also has solution but the world is not ready for it.

Any human rights activists, lawyers and judges who happen to stumble upon this message and willing to fight the biggest case in history are most welcome. It stretches across government to private sector to media industry... You are guaranteed a win and one that will catapult you to international fame for standing up for what is righteous. Due to political involvement that speaks of the biggest conspiracy in history across borders not many dare to take up the case. In fact, this case will test the entire country in terms of judiciary independence, anti corruption agency, human rights bill... It is undeniable an event which has devastating impact on global recovery and economies as it will trigger a domino effect around the world resulting in the sentencing of all politicians as they are supposed to be serving the nations under oath. The trails they leave behind is cannot be covered due to its magnitude but they failed to opt for the back door and insisted on using political power to take advantage of civilians in the most unimaginable experiment ever invented. The wrongdoing and lack of understanding is perhaps best reflected in Hayden's comments. I am sure he will not be angry as it is constructive criticism just like how we see tv downplaying work of ingenuity which they claimed is useless but refuses to stop tapping and contravening every possible law. If the work is so useless I wonder why the world spent billions while encourage the entire population to do what is not permitted by law to learn from it and that they did without paying a cent.

Private investors are also welcome to participate.

essb3saw@gmail.com

Sure, pass a law outlawing Internet attacks. After all, everyone knows that all them DDOS are made by Chinese secret service members intent on wrecking our way of life, not at all by bored script kiddies looking for a thrill, or professional criminals ensuring their monthly revenue.

That is much better than, say, ensuring that utilities networks are not accessible from the Web, or that infrastructure servers are properly configured and have good safety levels, that government firewalls are working and up-to-date, that government IT personnel are properly trained, aware of the risks and knowledgeable about detecting attacks and deploying counter-measures, etc. etc.

No, instead of doing all that expensive work, let's just pass a new law.
Everything solved !

In Apt Rentals, Hallway can be deceptive place. Person Lites some Marihuana up in front of Your door & POW, Vigilantes Knock Door in, Kill You & find another door to smoke in front of.

Cyber sloutheing about same. Blame You for being on internet. your account, your secret code, your...blah ,blah, blah. Just about anything IS FREE on Internet, addreses, Private account numbers, Bills, Even Marihuana, Now here in D.C.. Breakayour head wide open, in any event. In cyber, come to door & have gun stuck to your head. Those Arn't Cops, There Criminals whom bluffed you, surely cybers don't need your tale, just loot. Rest is F.U.D. Private Home, surveilance, knock,knock & Bam, CyberSec, Works 9,999 times out of bunch.

vondrashek md

Bet your last bit that a pretext will arise now that they've the "internet kill switch", have created a stir about anonymous comments being a danger, hundreds of millions have allocated to "cyberwar" contracts, and now this semi-official announcement. The stage is set, just waiting the right moment, perhaps for distraction during US elections in November to blunt the strong anti-incumbent mood.

I'm intrigued that the Conficker worm may be *the* weapon. It's *highly* advanced in having peer-to-peer communication and a large number of site names where it looks for instructions. Most suspicious of all is that it has so far done almost nothing except update itself. Wikipedia's last mention is of a year ago now, but it's still out there in unknown numbers (on unprotected Windows systems, up to perhaps 30% potential, though likely still only a "few" million actual).

when terror is no longer scary for the next generation population, not beeing able to go online or playing games surely will.

but in case of troubles

#interface-range china-russia shutdown

yawn

but in reality some just want to shift the power to the goverments, because its a media the have no control over. today.