Special Report: U.S. cyberwar strategy stokes fear of blowback

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Special Report: U.S. cyberwar strategy stokes fear of blowback

By Joseph Menn
WASHINGTON | Fri May 10, 2013 7:05am EDT

(Reuters) - Even as the U.S. government confronts rival powers over widespread Internet espionage, it has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers.

The strategy is spurring concern in the technology industry and intelligence community that Washington is in effect encouraging hacking and failing to disclose to software companies and customers the vulnerabilities exploited by the purchased hacks.

That's because U.S. intelligence and military agencies aren't buying the tools primarily to fend off attacks. Rather, they are using the tools to infiltrate computer networks overseas, leaving behind spy programs and cyber-weapons that can disrupt data or damage systems.

The core problem: Spy tools and cyber-weapons rely on vulnerabilities in existing software programs, and these hacks would be much less useful to the government if the flaws were exposed through public warnings. So the more the government spends on offensive techniques, the greater its interest in making sure that security holes in widely used software remain unrepaired.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/10/us-usa-cyberweapons-specialreport-idUSBRE9490EL20130510

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Of course there is going to be blowback

And since the U.S. has said that cyberattacks would be treated as actual attacks and could warrant military action up to and including nuclear weapons, we have opened the door for "preemptive strikes" under the Bush Doctrine for any attack we make.

Imagine if the Stux virus the the U.S./Israel used again Iran had gone horribly wrong and had resulted in an explosion and the dispersal of radioactive materials into an Iranian population center. By OUR OWN RULES per Bush/Obama that would constitute the use of a "weapon of mass destruction" and would warrant a like response. If Iran now suspects that we will attack its infrastructure via cyberwarfare, then they may legally, per our own rules, attack us first to prevent the cyber-incursion.

We are government by slavering, blood-thirsty, morons.