Warning of a “cyber arms race,” a leading Web security firm said on Tuesday that China, France, Israel, Russia and the US were among countries that have developed “cyber weapons.”
“McAfee began to warn of the global cyber arms race more than two years ago, but now we’re seeing increasing evidence that it’s become real,” said Dave DeWalt, president and chief executive of McAfee.
“Several nations around the world are actively engaged in cyberwar-like preparations and attacks,” he said. “Today, the weapons are not nuclear, but virtual, and everyone must adapt to these threats.”
McAfee, based in Santa Clara, California, said in its fifth annual Virtual Criminology Report that China, France, Israel, Russia and the US have developed “advanced offensive cyber capabilities.”
McAfee said cyber-attacks with political objectives were on the rise and although there was disagreement among experts over its definition “cyberwarfare is a reality.”
Among the cases cited in the report were the cyber campaign against Georgia by Russian nationalists during the South Ossetia war in August last year and attacks against official US and South Korean Web sites in July that some experts believe to have come from North Korea.
“Over the past year, the increase in politically motivated cyber-attacks has raised alarm and caution, with targets including the White House, Department of Homeland Security, US Secret Service and Department of Defense in the US alone,” the report said.
“Nation-states are actively developing cyberwarfare capabilities and involved in the cyber arms race, targeting government networks and critical infrastructures,” the report said.
McAfee said what it called a “Cyber Cold War” may already be underway.
“While we have not yet seen a ‘hot’ cyber war between major powers, the efforts of nation-states to build increasingly sophisticated cyberattack capabilities — and in some cases demonstrate a willingness to use them — suggests that a ‘Cyber Cold War’ may have already begun,” it said.
The company said critical infrastructure was particularly vulnerable, in part because of its reliance on the Internet.
“If a major cyber conflict between nation states were to erupt, it is very likely that the private sector would get caught in the crossfire,” it said.
“Most experts agree that critical infrastructure systems — such as the electrical grid, banking and finance, and oil and gas sectors — are vulnerable to cyberattack in many countries,” it said.
“In most developed countries, critical infrastructure is connected to the Internet and lacks proper security functions, leaving these installations vulnerable to attacks,” McAfee said.
It said some nation states “are actively doing reconnaissance to identify specific vulnerabilities” and quoted an expert as saying they were “laying the electronic battlefield and preparing to use it.”
McAfee said what constitutes an act of war in cyberspace — and the proper response — was not yet clear.
“Cyberwarfare entangles so many different actors in so many different ways that the rules of engagement are not clearly defined,” it said.
“Without a proper definition in place, it is nearly impossible to determine when a political response or threat of military action is warranted,” it said.
The McAfee report was prepared by cyber-security expert Paul Kurtz, a former White House adviser, and included interviews with more than 20 international relations, national security and Internet security experts from around the world.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
RSS