Electronic Pearl Harbor? Not Likely . . .

["George Smith [CRYPT]" <70743.1711 () compuserve com>]

"An Electronic Pearl Harbor? Not Likely" appears in the
current edition of the National Academy of Sciences' quarterly 
policy magazine, Issues in Science and Technology. 

"EPH -- Not Likely" argues the case that recent government and 
Department of Defense assertions that hostile information warriors 
can devastate substantial segments of American society are 
characterized by vague rhetoric, unsubstantiated claims, misused 
statistics, conflicts of interest and poor understanding of 
technical issues.

The article also discusses how esteemed policy makers in 
government law enforcement and the intelligence agencies have 
fallen prey to virus hoaxes and related techno-myths in the last 
three years.

"EPH Not Likely" further maintains the Pentagon is wasting time 
developing relatively worthless, but very secretive, offensive 
i-war capabilities, like virus-writing and the potential for  
disinformation campaigns via spam and the Usenet, when it should be 
focusing on a more widespread understanding of fundamental computer 
security practices. 

On-line reprint available off the www.nas.edu Website, nested 
under "Publications," "Issues in Science and Technology":

http://205.130.85.236/issues/15.1/smith.htm

George Smith
Crypt Newsletter
http://www.soci.niu.edu/~crypt