Cyberwarfareis likely to continue to
grow as a threat to the political and economic sovereignty of
nations, despite the best efforts of industry and defenders to
protect national assets.
This was the consensus of a panel of experts at RSA Europe 2007.
However, there is widespread disagreement on the definition, even
though all agree it means the use of computers and networks to
steal, disrupt or otherwise alienate the resources of another
country.
An analysis of the
attacks against Estonia in April and May this year suggested
that it was a unqiue event, but that there would be more, and that
the threats would be different, said Mikhel Tammet, director of the
communications and IT department at the
Estonian Ministry of
Defence.
"The attack was part of a political campaign and also designed
to test our capabilities. The next one will be different," he
said.
He said the attack revealed a high security risk because it
targeted critical national infrastructures such as government
websites, news sources and Estonian banks. "There is very little
cash in Estonia," he said, noting that about 75% of Estonians
banked at just two banks. Both suffered DDos attacks that disrupted
commerce for several days.
"It is hard to predict where or how such attacks will escalate,
but we expect it," he said. The solution was more co-operation
between government and industry players such as internet service
providers. Tammet said Estonia is working on a memorandum of
understanding that will spell out how this will work in practice.
He expects it to come into force next year.
"In an attack things happen so fast that we need to pass some of
the decision-making to the industry to help defend," he said.
The United States is
to contribute
a top Navy cyber defence expert to the Nato Centre of
Excellence on Cooperative Cyber Defence that Estomia has formed
with Germany and Spain. The centre aims to enhance Nato's cyber
defence capability and to serve as an essential source for
providing Nato with expertise on cyber defence.
Welcoming the move, Estonian defence minister Jaak Aaviksoo
said, "The support of the USA is not only proof of the strong
alliance between our countries but also a crystal clear message of
divided threat awareness."