Security News > 2008 > November > Don’t waste funds preparing for cyberwar s

http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2008/10/31/technology/20081031200416 The Star Online October 31, 2008 KUALA LUMPUR: The billions of dollars spent on researching cyberwarfare can be put to better use because cyberwar is never going to be as effective as conventional war, said an IT ­security expert. Marcus Ranum, chief security officer of Tenable Network Security said cyberattacks aren’t a good force multiplier in an actual war. Many people, he said, talk about cyberspace as if it can be a new form of battlefield but this is not possible because you can’t occupy and hold cyberspace as you would a piece of enemy territory. Ranum was speaking at HiTBSecConf 2008 here this week. He said trying to overcome another country via cyberspace is impossible unless you also have a huge army that can defeat its forces in conventional warfare. A small country, even with an army of hackers on its side, is never going to be able to defeat a big country with an extensive land, air and sea military force by attacking through the Internet. “Furthermore, any country that is thinking about using cyberwarfare better be prepared for a fierce ­retaliation in the real world from its opponent,” he said. He said launching a cyberwar by attempting to cripple an enemy’s command and control network would be like “luring Mike Tyson into a small, dark room with you and then threatening to beat the boxer into a pulp.” “This is called the ‘blind Mike Tyson effect’ and the last thing anyone wants to do is to scare a large and powerful nation into a conventional war because the retaliation would be worse.” It would be better to spend money on conventional weapons, he said. Or better, channel the funds to more positive causes, such as disaster relief programmes. Ranum finds it disconcerting when he reads about the military discussing cyberwarfare. “You’re talking about bringing military operations into cyberspace to potentially commit acts of war and other countries may retaliate in ways that you may not be prepared for,” he said. Cyberwars, he said, are best left to Hollywood and computer games because it isn’t as effective in the real world. “It sounds really cool ... I think people read too much science fiction,” he added.

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http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2008/10/31/technology/20081031200416