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Attacks on computer systems now have the potential to cause
a global catastrophe, a new report says.
The damage could only occur, however, in combination with
another disaster, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) said.
The study, part of a wider OECD project examining possible
“Future Global Shocks” such as a failure of the world’s financial
system or a large-scale pandemic, said there were very few single
“cyber events” that could cause a global shock.
Examples were a successful attack on one of the technical
protocols on which the Internet depends, or a large solar flare
that wiped out key communications components such as
satellites.
But it said a combination of events such as coordinated cyber
attacks, or a cyber incident occurring during another form of
disaster, should be a serious concern for policy makers.
“In that eventuality, ‘perfect storm’ conditions could exist,”
said the report, written by Professor Peter Sommer of the London
School of Economics and Dr Ian Brown of Britain’s Oxford
University.
Governments are increasingly emphasising the importance of cyber
security.
The United States is preparing for cyber conflict and has
launched its own military cyber command.
Britain last October rated cyber attacks as one of the top
external threats, promising to spend an extra 650 million pounds
($1.3 billion) on the issue.
Meanwhile, emerging nations such as China and Russia are
believed to see it as an arena in which they can challenge the
United States’ conventional military dominance.
The Stuxnet computer worm – which targets industrial systems and
was widely believed to be a state attack on Iran’s nuclear
programme – is seen as a sign of the increasing militarisation of
cyberspace.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that the worm was a
joint US-Israeli effort and had been tested at Israel’s Dimona
nuclear plant.
The OECD study concluded that cyber attacks would be ubiquitous
in future wars, and that cyber weaponry would be “increasingly
deployed and with increasing effect by ideological activists of all
persuasions and interests”.
“There are significant and growing risks of localised misery and
loss as a result of compromise of computer and telecommunications
services,” the report said.
But it concluded that a true “cyberwar”, fought almost entirely
through computer systems, was unlikely as many critical systems
were well protected and the effects of attacks were difficult to
predict, and so could backfire on the assailants.
Brown said adopting a largely military approach to cyber
security was a mistake, as most targets in the critical national
infrastructure, such as communications, energy, finance and
transport, were in the private sector.
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Article source: http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/cyber-attacks-could-create-perfect-storm-4000129?ref=rss
Category: Cyber Wars