Cyber War is Upon Us–But Only One Side is Attacking (Really?)

[ShyWriter]

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Cyber War is Upon Us–But Only One Side is Attacking (Really?? ~ Shy)

Is a cyberwar really a war if only one side is fighting? The United States hit Iran's nuclear program with Stuxnet and followed up with Flame, the James Bond of spyware. But Iran's response is the equivalent of a few shots from a Nerf gun, according to CIO.com blogger Constantine von Hoffman.

Posted January 23, 2013 to Security

There’s usually no confusion about when a "physical" war starts. Shells either fly or they don’t. Cyber wars, of course, have no such simple indicator. So while it sure looks like United States vs. Iran has been going on for a couple of years now, neither side will admit it.

The Iranians don’t want to fess up because they have yet to fire back with anything more than the equivalent of a digital Nerf gun. The United States doesn't want to admit it because its opponents are so pathetic–despite ongoing efforts to make them look ferocious.

The first shot was probably the release of the Flame spyware in 2007, this was followed by the release of Stuxnet (likely in 2009) which did a whole lot of damage to Iran’s uranium-enrichment capabilities.(This has been updated and corrected, please see note at end of post.)

What did the Iranians fire back with? A series of massive, on-going and ineffective DDoS attacks on American banks. This is a disproportionate response but not in the way military experts usually mean that phrase. It’s the equivalent of someone stealing your car and you throwing an ever-increasing number of eggs at his house in response. (More...)

Read this in its entirety at: http://blogs.cio.com/security/17722/cyber-war-upon-us%E2%80%93-only-one-side-attacking

Steve