Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Data Exhaust: Why Cyber Threats Cannot be Treated as WMDs by Governments

Why can't a bunch of generals sit around the White House Situation Room and hash out responses to cyber threats the same way they responded to nuclear arms tests, threats, and provocative actions? The best answer came with woes of major retailers like Target and Nieman Marcus:
A teenager using commonly available tools can decimate entire commercial ecosystems—customer confidence, stock value, revenue, etc.—months before the Joint Chiefs even know there's a game afoot.
Today's Computerworld pretty well builds the case (see the story here).  Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye), welcome to 2014. Or rather, Holden Caulfield, welcome to the world predicted by my friend the late science fiction author Frank Herbert, lo those many years ago (just enter "Frank Herbert" or "science fiction" in the search box to the left to read my many posts on the subject).

Also, consider not-so-modern game theory and realize that using a defense-only strategy is a recipe for failure. Which makes this Sunday's Superbowl so interesting as the nation's best defense plays the nation's best offense.

Licensed and bonded cyber privateers—living according to the Privateer Code—are the only workable solution I can come up with. Got a better one? Nobody has proposed it in the history of this blog.

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Implementation suggestions for THE MORGAN DOCTRINE are most welcome. What are the "Got'chas!"? What questions would some future Cyber Privateering Czar have to answer about this in a Senate confirmation hearing?