NATO's Next War -- in Cyberspace

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323855804578508894129031084.html

By ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN
The Wall Street Journal
June 2, 2013

On April 23, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 150 points within 
seven minutes, destroying billions of dollars in value. The reason was a 
message on the Associated Press's Twitter account claiming that two explosions 
had shaken the White House.

The tweet was quickly exposed as bogus, the result of hacking by a group 
identifying itself as the Syrian Electronic Army. The Dow recovered 
immediately. But the lesson was clear. A single tweet can cause major economic 
disruption.

How times have changed. During the age of the Berlin Wall, tanks and ideologies 
faced off across closed borders. In the age of the firewall, borders are open, 
ideas are free and war can be virtual—but its consequences just as devastating 
and real.

Europol, the European Union's law-enforcement agency, puts the annual value of 
corporations' losses from criminal cyberactivity at $1 trillion. Computer 
viruses can shut down key infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, 
international airports, or power grids. Cyberattacks are a cheap way for 
terrorists, activists and state-sponsored agents to do extensive damage.

[...]

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