Posted on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 @ 08:37 AM
In their official corporate blog last month, Google reported attacks originating from China on certain Gmail accounts. Further investigation revealed the Gmail accounts belonged to Chinese human rights activists. And then they found that accounts of dozens of U.S., China and Europe-based Gmail users, who are advocates of human rights in China, were accessed via phishing scams or malware placed on users' computers.
When Google.cn (China) was launched in 2006 it agreed to censorship by the Chinese government. However, based on these latest attacks and increasing limits on free speech on the web, Google is re-evaluating their position. It is a possibility, dependent on their talks with the Chinese government they will cease operating in that land.
What are we to do when a sovereign government breaches security and attacks its own people? Who do you turn to for recompense? What additional security measures can one take?
Google is already warning all users to deploy anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, to install patches for their operating systems, to update their web browsers and to be cautious when clicking on links appearing in instant messages and emails.
But is this enough? In the old days when the government snooped on you they wire-tapped your phone, camped outside your house with long lens cameras, sifted through your trash and followed you around. It took a lot of effort and expense to spy on someone. Now in the cyber age, the snoopers are faceless and attack millions with little effort. What can one do?
Individual and corporate security measures will safeguard you to a certain point. But when a government attacks, ultimately it is the human response, the people at every node of the network who safeguard our freedoms. Unplugging will not be an option unless we desire to return to the Stone Age. Thus behind every security measure there must be people willing to stand for what is right.
Posted on Thu, Dec 10, 2009 @ 02:47 PM
A 367-page report prepared by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and released November 2009, details cyber attacks targeting the United States.
During 2008 there were 54,640 total cyber attacks against the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) according to the report, citing data provided by U.S. Strategic Command officials. The number of instances significantly increased in the first half of 2009, when there were 43,785 cyber incidents targeting the DoD, the report states.
The military has spent more than $100 million in the first six months of 2009 alone repairing damage to its networks caused by such cyber attacks, stated Army Brig. Gen. John Davis, deputy commander for network operations.
These circumstances have been fueling congressional bills that could give the president the authority to "unplug the Internet" in cases of national emergency. The bill, from Senators John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is part of a larger debate over what federal powers are necessary for cyber security.
In the best-case scenario, that power could enable the president to prevent cyber attacks on the power grid, air traffic control systems, or the root of the Internet. On the other hand, the government would be given the power to shut down vital telecommunications, financial, and corporate networks with claims of national security interest.
These scenarios are continually becoming more realistic as the Wall Street Journal reported in April of 2009 that Russian and Chinese spies have hacked into the U.S. electrical grid and left behind malware. If accurate then to protect the nation's public and private operations unplugging the Internet may be the fastest solution to a dire situation.
The thought of such actions remind me of the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still." In that movie, aliens shut down everything on the earth that was powered by electrical current. It was done to give mankind pause to consider his actions and the pending consequences for behavior that was destroying the earth. We can only hope the zeal for destructive behavior by certain people never creates such a climatic ending.