Threat of next world war may be in cyberspace: UN

October 6, 2009 by Hui Min Neo
The next world war could take place in cyberspace, the UN telecommunications agency chief warned

Enlarge

"Cyber war!" flashes on the screen at an Internet security conference. The next world war could take place in cyberspace, the UN telecommunications agency chief warned Tuesday as experts called for action to stamp out cyber attacks.

The next world war could take place in cyberspace, the UN telecommunications agency chief warned Tuesday as experts called for action to stamp out cyber attacks.

"The next world war could happen in cyberspace and that would be a catastrophe. We have to make sure that all countries understand that in that war, there is no such thing as a superpower," Hamadoun Toure said.

"Loss of vital networks would quickly cripple any nation, and none is immune to ," added the secretary-general of the International Union during the ITU's World 2009 fair in Geneva.

Toure said countries have become "critically dependent" on technology for commerce, finance, health care, emergency services and food distribution.

"The best way to win a war is to avoid it in the first place," he stressed.

As the Internet becomes more linked with daily lives, cyberattacks and crimes have also increased in frequency, experts said.

Such attacks include the use of "phishing" tools to get hold of passwords to commit fraud, or attempts by hackers to bring down secure networks.

Individual countries have started to respond by bolstering their defences.

US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Thursday that she has received the green light to hire up to 1,000 cybersecurity experts to ramp up the United States' defenses against cyber threats.

South Korea has also announced plans to train 3,000 "cyber sheriffs" by next year to protect businesses after a spate of attacks on state and private websites.

Warning of the magnitude of cybercrimes and attacks, Carlos Solari, Alcatel-Lucent's vice-president on central quality, security and reliability, told a forum here that breaches in e-commerce are now already running to "hundreds of billions."

But one of the most prominent victims in recent years has been the small Baltic state of Estonia, which has staked some of its post Cold War development on new technology.

In 2007 a spate of cyber attacks forced the closure of government websites and disrupted leading businesses.

Estonian Minister for Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts said in Geneva that "adequate international cooperation" was essential.

"Because if something happens on cyberspace... it's a border crossing issue. We have to have horizontal cooperation globally," he added.

To this end, several countries have joined forces in the International Multilateral Partnership against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), set up this year to "proactively track and defend against cyberthreats."

Some 37 ITU member states have signed up, while another 15 nations are holding advanced discussions, said the ITU.

Experts say that a major problem is that the current software and web infrastructure has the same weaknesses as those produced two decades ago.

"The real problem is that we're putting on the market software that is as vulnerable as it was 20 years ago," said Cristine Hoepers, general manager at Brazilian National Computer Emergency Response Team.

"If you see the vulnerabilities that are being exploited today, they are still the same," she underlined.

She suggested that professionals needed to be trained to "design something more resilient."

"Universities are not teaching students to think about that. We need to change the workforce, we need to go to the universities..., we need to start educating our professionals," she said.

Pointing out the infrastructure weakness, Carlos Moreira, who founded and runs the Swiss information security firm Wisekey, said legislation is needed to bring cybersecurity up to international standards.

(c) 2009 AFP

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

gunslingor1
Oct 06, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
"Universities are not teaching students to think about that. We need to change the workforce, we need to go to the universities..., we need to start educating our professionals,"

I can guarantee 110% that is an incorrect interpretation of the problem. You put the blame on individuals who work for companies and universities who train them? What about massive software developers who cut corners to save overhead? After all, there is no difference between the developers and the hackers other than the side they are on; do you think hackers really go to better schools? The majority of vulnerabilities are the result of inelegant code produced in order to speed up design and minimize overhead. It is not the fault of who you claim; it is the fault of the CEOs who run these companies whose primary concern is profit, not elegant code. Sounds like financial contributions from big software talking to me.
Sauvignon
Oct 06, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Market forces dictate that security is only as good as it has to be to ensure survival of the software producer. From a management perspective, increased security in a product is money wasted if it does not lead to increased sales.There is a fine continually shifting line between sensible precautions and rabid paranoia.
Rank 3 /5 (4 votes)
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Empirical data regarding shower heads and water
    created2 hours ago
  • feed hold button on CNC lathe
    created22 hours ago
  • Mechanics of Solids ( Final exam question) please help!
    createdFeb 09, 2012
  • RFAC in Fortran
    createdFeb 09, 2012
  • dynamics 2/32
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • dynamics
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - General Engineering

More news stories

Soraa LED light may dim 50-watt halogen rivals

(PhysOrg.com) -- Soraa, a Fremont, California company founded in 2008, this week launched its first product, a light that uses LEDS (light emitting diodes). The "Soraa LED MR16 lamp" is the "perfect" replacement ...

Technology / Semiconductors

created 23 hours ago | popularity 4.3 / 5 (18) | comments 18 | with audio podcast report

Samsung can continue selling Galaxy tabs in Germany: court

South Korea's Samsung Electronics can continue to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet computer in Germany, a German court ruled Thursday, rejecting a bid by arch-rival Apple to have them banned.

Technology / Business

created 21 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 3

Digital photos could put kids at risk

A study published in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics this month suggests that parents and carers could be putting children at risk if they upload digital photos that are automatically "geota ...

Technology / Internet

created 17 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3

Google launches Chrome browser for Android smartphones

With more and more people connecting to the Internet through a phone or a tablet instead of a PC, Google Inc. is bringing its fast-growing browser, Chrome, to the newest Android-powered mobile devices.

Technology / Software

created 19 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Model analyzes shape-memory alloys for use in earthquake-resistant structures

Recent earthquake damage has exposed the vulnerability of existing structures to strong ground movement. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers are analyzing shape-memory alloys for their potential ...

Technology / Engineering

created 17 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Fighting crimes against biodiversity: How to catch a killer weed

Invasive species which have the potential to destroy biodiversity and influence global change could be tracked and controlled in the same way as wanted criminals, according to new research from Queen Mary, University of London.

A novel method for simultaneously measuring blood pressure and arterial stiffness

Arterial stiffness due to is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease but is very difficult to measure. It also can influence blood pressure readings since these rely on the time taken for arteries to return to normal ...

Study finds that red blood cell transfusion decreases fatigue in women with acute postpartum anemia

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that in women with acute postpartum ...

Study weighs risks and benefits of birthing facilities

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that indicate that the risk of obstetric intervention ...

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

'Dark plasmons' transmit energy

Microscopic channels of gold nanoparticles have the ability to transmit electromagnetic energy that starts as light and propagates via "dark plasmons," according to researchers at Rice University.