Cybersecurity: the new goose with golden eggs?

Paulo Jorge Alfaro(*)

Independent IT Trainer and Consultor Graduate in Computer Science and Technology; Post-graduate in Environment, Health and Safety; Post-graduate in Business Administration University of Azores; Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal pjalfaro@gmail.com
(*)

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/paulo-alfaro/46/721/20a

It is said we live in troubled times. It is said that, in times of crisis, one must take the opportunities available. For some years, now, this topic of cybersecurity and of the strategic importance of cyberspace is cause for concern, mostly to states such as the United States of America and recent events involving the worm stuxnet and other occurrences involving malware. Recently, on February the 5th, the International Day for a Safe Internet, I became interested in the subject and started to read about it. I admit I still find this subject to be somewhat of a tabu, in Portugal. I wasn't able to find many texts on the subject and those I did find are mostly about the usage of malware as a cyberweapon of dissuasion, operating clandestinely in systems that are controlled by networks or computer equipment of countries that are or, at least, are supposed to be, a threat to the USA, such as Iran. Regarding this, I have noticed that the New York Times has published numerous information(1). Ever since Julian Assange became famous for his Wikileaks and, keeping in mind that we live in a post-9/11 world, some authors have mentioned the urgent need of taking a stand regarding potential new cyberterrorist threats. Not to mention

cybercrime and cyberespionage. It is the cyberfear. After all, as Barry Posen, MIT professor of political science, highlighted, cyberspace, alike other global commons, is no longer under direct control of states but are vital for passage of goods, people, communication and data access upon which every member of international community depends(2). The risk is real. In fact, the normalization of the use of the internet allied to globalization has risks, mainly associated with vulnerabilities of many of the systems we use daily without ever even thinking much about it, such as the banking/financial system or the traffic lights. Even the threat of a cyberwar is present, as was the suspected case of Russia that, in the recent past, has been in conflict with Estonia (2007) and Georgia (2008). But I began to wonder that maybe the subject had more about it than meets the eye. I even begin to believe that this may be the new goose with the golden eggs and that much of what happens and is told may be a gigantic, in my view gruesome, marketing campaign...Campaign, because I find it odd that information of military nature comes to light, when it is known that the north-American military is more tight to information leaks than

the Trieste(3). Can it all be planned and thought as to feed the urges of a people filled with desire for intrigue and gossip? This kind of experiment resembles conspiracy theories and, if there is one subject which fascinates the north-American public and, I dare say, the whole world, is a good story which involves conspiracies, ugly mean dirty men (cyberterrorists supported by countries unfriendly towards western countries) and, just as in a good Hollywood movie, good guys who emerge victorious from all the mess, resembling James Bond's movies. I believe that, by the proliferation of stories such as that of the stuxnet, the marketeers behind all this aim for a reaction of their audience, which is the world: fear. Fear, that destructive emotion and lever for many of the most horrible actions ever engaged by

humans. It generates the need, the idea and the desire for more security. Cybersecurity, in this case. This is where the USA become a part of the game and, either by its own or in a group (for example the USA and the NATO or even the European Union), create agencies such as the US Cyber Command or the European Cybercrime Task Force, in an attempt to, legitimately, minimize the risks and the damage caused by the potential threats already mentioned but, overall, seeking the empathy of all of us. Ultimately, it is our security that is at stake but, attached to all of this come the monetary gains and the memory of that, in the game of war and safety, history is filled with stories of men who made their fortunes by making and selling weapons (arms dealing). The weapons change but, the fear, that evil, is the same.

(1)

As an example, read the article "Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-againstiran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) dated 2012.06.01 or "Cyberwarfare" (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nytclassifier) dated 2013.01.09; (2) Acording to Vtor Rodrigues Viana editorial in "Nao e Defesa" quarterly magazine, number 133, 2012; (3) Bathyscaphe name used when the man reached the deepest point of the ocean for the first time on January 23, 1960, when hit the Challenger Depression, at the depth of 10,916 meters in the Mariana Trench.