Governments prepare for 'cyber cold war' - ZDNet UK

Submitted by frank on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 16:14.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189...

There has been a sea change over the past year in the amount of government-sanctioned cyber-espionage, according to some security experts. They warn that�a "cyber cold war" is developing, in which governments are using technology not only for the immediate benefit of gaining intelligence from stolen data but also to probe critical national infrastructures for possible weak points�that could be exploited in the event of conflict.

Countries are currently testing the water to gauge the�threat and potential for�damage�posed by their�cyber-assaults, according to the 2007 Virtual Criminology Report produced by security firm McAfee.

The use of networks of compromised computers, or botnets, for data theft and intelligence gathering has increased this year, according to Peter Sommer, an expert in information systems and innovation at the London School of Economics. "There are signs that intelligence agencies around the world are constantly probing other governments' networks, looking for strengths and weaknesses, and developing new ways to gather intelligence," said Sommer. "Government agencies are doubtless conducting research on how botnets can be turned into offensive weapons but, before launching a weapon, you need to be sure what the outcome will be � you don't want attacks to spill over to your own allies by mistake.

"However, attacks are not limited to any particular countries, or by�alliances between countries, according to cyberwarfare watchers. In the McAfee report, Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for research organisation the Sans Internet Storm Center, said that most countries hack each other regardless of any supposed�allegiances.

Alan Paller, director of research at security training organisation the Sans Institute, concurred. "All nations are doing it to each other. I don't know of any country not doing it,"�he�said. "If it's not for normal espionage, it's for economic espionage. It's a very broad set of countries [involved]."

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