At the Munich Security Conference last week, senior figures from around the globe met to discuss current security issues as well as challenges for the future. For the first time in the history of the conference, the issue of cyber security was high on the agenda, with many attendees keen to discuss the growing threat of Internet-based attacks…
According to a recent BBC Technology programme about cyber conflict, there’s still a lot of ambiguity when it comes to what constitutes an ‘Internet-based attack’ and it can be anything from a lone cyber-terrorist, a ring of organised criminals operating online, to nations attacking other nations.
It sounds like something out of a sci-fi film, but with our reliance on computer systems for all areas of our lives, from the economy to education, this could prove to be a vulnerability that all kinds of individuals, groups or nations may look to exploit in the future.
There have already been numerous widespread cases of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in which websites are swamped with huge amounts of traffic. In 2007 government websites in Estonia were targeted, in 2008 both Russian and Georgian web properties were compromised and many sites were also targeted in response to the Wikileaks saga in late 2010. There are also many viruses that could pose a serious threat to national security, such as the STUXNET virus, a kind of computer virus that can target industrial control systems. The virus was used last year totarget Iranian power plants and many key commentators believe it could only have been created by a nation state, as apposed to a smaller group of cyber-terrorists.
The UK foreign secretary William Hague spoke at the security conference and highlighted recent, smaller Internet security threats to the UK government that could have spiralled out of control. He cited an email attack on the UK government, which managed to bypass many security filters as well as an email that was sent by someone pretending to be an employee of a defence contractor asking for sensitive national security details. Hague went on to claim that it’s only a matter of time before attacks become even more common and destructive:
“We have excellent defences and protective security is a fundamental part of cyber security. But these are the kinds of threat we are now facing every day, and our concept of what it means to be ‘secure’ must adapt in response.”
The answers are clearly for governments to work on making systems more secure and devise new ways of pre-empting such attacks.
However, US and Russian experts also expressed the need for ‘rules of engagement’ to be drawn up in the event of full-blown cyber war between nations. It is suggested that these would adapt the current Hague and Geneva conventions so they’re more applicable to our fast-moving, online world.
It’s important that these senior figures realise the threat of cyber attacks and are taking steps in preventing them and dealing with them if they do arise. However, it’s also important to remember that, although disruptive, up until now such attacks have been isolated and most have been rectified by experts in their field. So although the threat is real, let’s leave the panic, worry and thought of reverting back to a time without any Internet, computers or technology to the apocalyptic sci-fi film-makers for now.
Becca Caddy is a BitchBuzz Tech columnist and freelance writer. You can follow her @beccacaddy or read her blog beccacaddy.com.
Image via Kai Mork.