E-war is a non-starter in the conflict with Iraq. Simon
Moores has a better solution up his sleeve.
For heaven’s sake, any return match with Iraq
is not going to be played out in cyberspace, regardless of media
pressure on the Pentagon to drop millions of "nanobots" or Kylie
CDs infected with a more potent version of Slammer on Baghdad.
Outside of the playground of the Emirates, the
Middle East is not particularly well joined up or connected. I
should know, having visited all the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)
states as a UK “technology ambassador” last year and presenting on
InfoSec issues.
In fact, as I noted in every report I have
written on the region, information security is an oxymoron which
makes the development of e-government and e-commerce
problematical.
What little effective security there is may
have already been stripped down by Arab governments worried that
the CIA or Mossad might have clandestine access through American or
even Israeli-sourced software.
According to the BBC, Iraq has only 12,000
people online and, as with its neighbours, you can be sure that all
the traffic passes through a proxy server, which makes using the
web as an information and communications medium a challenge akin to
watching paint dry.
Unlike the Americans, who rely on the internet
and even instant messaging as a fundamental component of their
command and control network, the Arab world is rather less
sophisticated and learned from the last Gulf war and the more
recent conflict with Serbia.
So while Iraq will expect to have its
both mobile and conventional telephone networks targeted by a mix
of different weaponry, I very much doubt if the internet figures
much in any plans they might have, because they can reasonably
expect to have their circuitry "fried" by a large electromagnetic
pulse within minutes of the first cruise missiles appearing on the
screens of any radar stations that are still working.
While it makes great TV to speculate on a
country bought to its knees by Keanu “Matrix” Reeves or John
“Swordfish” Travolta, I’m sorry to tell you that this fixture, if
it isn’t cancelled, will be played out with all the traditional
toys and the cover of night.
My own solution to the problem is a simple
one. Given that David Beckham is a hero in Iraq, why not offer the
Iraqi people a swap. David for Saddam, a friendly visit by
Manchester United in exchange for any weapons of mass destruction
and we’ll throw in Posh too. It’s too good an opportunity to
miss.
What do
you think?
Beckham, not
bombs? Or is cyber-war an option?
Tell us in an e-mail
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ZentelligenceSetting the world to
rights with the collected thoughts and opinions of the futurist
writer, broadcaster and Computer Weekly columnist Simon
Moores.
For more information on IT opportunities in
the Middle East, visit
www.arabgov.com