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Friday, May 29, 2009


 

Cyber "security", or cyber "war"?


Amazing how the same story can be reported in diametrically opposite ways. Here's the AP this morning:
Obama calling for better security for computers

President Barack Obama is calling digital security a top priority, whether it's guarding the computer systems that keep the lights on in the city and direct airliners to the right runway or those protecting customers who pay their bills online.

To oversee an enhanced security system for the nation's computer networks, Obama is creating a "cyber czar" as part of a long-awaited plan stemming from a review he ordered shortly after taking office.
You'd think Obama was concerned that we all don't have the latest version of anti-virus software on our PCs.

Meanwhile, over at The New York Times, a bit more honest look at what's really going on:

Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Wars in Cyberspace

The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.

The military command would complement a civilian effort to be announced by President Obama on Friday that would overhaul the way the United States safeguards its computer networks.
As I wrote recently (but I can't find it on this blog, so it must have been elsewhere), the U.S. always frames its actions, whether the area be biowarfare, chemical warfare, or cyberwar, as "developing defenses against potential attacks," but time after time, the actual motivation (and the actual result) is offense, not defense.


// posted @ 5/29/2009 07:33:00 AM // 

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