Re: [iwar] * JAPAN is preparing to use electronic weapons to destroy (fwd)
From: Tony Bartoletti
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From: Tony Bartoletti
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Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 13:55:56 -0700
Reply-To: iwar@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [iwar] * JAPAN is preparing to use electronic weapons to destroy (fwd)
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At 11:53 AM 10/27/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Tony, what are we going to do with you? Aren't you a realist?
:)
>In the world of political operations, it's not about hitting the right target,
>it's about the amount of noise you make.
Indeed. Since people of intelligence (hackers included) can easily see the
futility of such an approach, one must assume the announcement to target a
naive populace for funding support. I hope they put the money to good use.
>In the world of field operators, we spend a lot of time to make certain we've
>got the right target, but that's not a popular approach.
>
>The JDA comments sound like much smoke and little fire. This is what happens
>when Those In Charge have no idea about what to really do--they opt for
>reprisal. Which morphs into escalation.
>
>MW
Agreed. I also think that the public needs a better understanding
of the force-multipliers involved in potential cyber-attack events.
Ignoring the difficulty of accurate target identification, suppose
that an accurate "traceback" through unwitting compromised systems
could lead quickly to the "source machine" originating the attack.
I envision a massive cyber-attack on a nation-state whose "cyber-
reaction squad" is so effective at accurate identification and
response that they succeed in "destroying the attacking computer"
(an abandoned PC in an abandoned apartment rented under an assumed
name.) Quite the victory (sigh).
One part of me hopes that by rejecting all of the "silly" solutions,
a good cyber-defense capability will emerge through a process of
elimination. (And then, I woke up :)
___tony___
>On Fri, 27 Oct 2000, Tony Bartoletti wrote:
>
> > At 06:59 AM 10/27/00 -0700, you wrote:
> > >By Juliet Hindell in Tokyo
> > >Tuesday 24 October 2000
> > >
> > >JAPAN is preparing to use electronic weapons to destroy the computers
> > >of hackers trying to infiltrate the country's defence systems. The
> > >move follows raids on government computer systems.
> > >
> > >The Japan Defence Agency is expected to deploy the "cyber squad".
> > >Leading computer experts will design software which will be capable of
> > >launching anti-hacking and anti-virus attacks.
> >
> >
> > This "ability" sounds threatening, but must surely be so tightly proscribed
> > as to be almost insignificant. If dedicated hackers were to jump though
> > several compromised machines in various countries, place "time bombs" in
> > (say) a set of NASA computers, do a reasonable job of wiping their trail,
> > and several weeks later these "bombs" launch an attack on Japan's defense
> > systems, I seriously doubt that a JDA "cyber squad" will respond by
> > destroying the offending NASA computers.
> >
> > The need to verify that the offending systems are not themselves victims
> > of the originating crime will (I assume) act to curtail most of these
> > envisioned "rapid response" activities.
> >
> > Otherwise, we create a huge electronic tinderbox, each "rapid response"
> > misperceived to be a malicious attack inviting further rapid response.
Tony Bartoletti 925-422-3881
Information Operations, Warfare and Assurance Center
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA 94551-9900
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