- (IDG) -- Cyberterrorists are plotting
all manner of heinous attacks that if successful could "destabilize
and eventually destroy targeted states and societies," according to
a gloomy new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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- The report, which offers recommendations
for averting cyberwarfare, has in its introduction alone enough dire news
to make the year 2000 computer glitch seem like a minute blip on the worry
scale.
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- Consider this: "Information warfare
specialists at the Pentagon estimate that a properly prepared and well-coordinated
attack by fewer than 30 computer virtuosos strategically located around
the world, with a budget of less than $10 million, could bring the United
States to its knees."
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- "Such a strategic attack, mounted
by a cyberterrorist group ... would shut down everything from electric
power grids to air traffic control centers. A combination of cyberweapons,
poison gas, and even nuclear devices could produce a global Waterloo for
the United States."
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- What, me worry?
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- For those who believe U.S. intelligence
and law enforcement agencies have a handle on the threat of cyberterrorism,
consider this: "In fact, law enforcement's electronic capabilities
are from 5 to 10 years behind the transnational crime curve."
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- With that comforting thought in mind,
the report notes, "Cyberterrorists, acting for rogue states or groups
that have declared holy war against the United States, are known to be
plotting America's demise as a superpower."
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- At the top of the list of rogue cyberterrorists
is Osama bin Laden, who allegedly is plotting terrorist attacks on either
New York or Washington, D.C. Computers are key in his arsenal, said the
CSIS report.
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- "In today's electronic environment,
many haters can become a Saddam Hussein and take on the world's most technologically
vulnerable nation," notes the report, which tells of satellite uplinks
among terrorist liaisons around the globe. The authors make it clear that
they are indeed trying to scare the complacency out of us.
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- Cyber-Cold War
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- While enemies of the U.S. realize they
can't take on the nation with conventional weapons, their alternative is
cyberweapons launched by keyboards. "Information warfare tools"
like logic bombs, viruses, worms, and Trojan horses are proliferating.
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- "They are no longer the stuff of
science fiction. America's adversaries know that the country's real assets
are in electronic storage, not in Fort Knox," the report said. CSIS
counts eight countries with cyberwarfare capabilities as advanced as ours.
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- The U.S. has no laws or regulations regarding
when to launch a cyberattack or counterattack in this new postnuclear age.
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- "Most political leaders are reluctant
to face the fact that not only are the traditional prerogatives of national
sovereignty being challenged by the Information Revolution but they are
disappearing rapidly in cyberspace," the report said. "The nineteenth-century
model of an independent state has become one of trappings rather than substance."
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- CSIS, a privately operated public research
organization, has some suggestions: * Explain the threat. U.S. officials
should tell those in charge of critical infrastructures and its major users
just what is the threat from strategic information warfare, and how to
prepare.
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- * Develop national security policies
that consider the Information Revolution. CSIS recommends setting policy
and objectives, determining who has authority for "offensive IW"
(information warfare), and setting guidelines for targets.
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- * Make strategic information dominance
a national security objective.
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- * Adopt policies to ensure critical government
services will continue.
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- * Work with the private sector.
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- * Prepare the U.S. military and U.S.
intelligence agencies for cyberwarfare.
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