The Nature of Cyberwar
This was pretty good, I thought: However, it may be difficult to write military doctrine for many aspects of cyberconflict that are truly revolutionary. Here are no fewer than 10 to consider: The Internet is an artificial environment that can be shaped in part according to national security requirements. The blinding proliferation of technology and hacker tools makes it impossible to be familiar with all of them. The proximity of adversaries is determined by connectivity and bandwidth, not terrestrial geography. Software updates and network reconfigurations change cyberbattle space unpredictably and without warning. Contrary to our historical understanding of war, cyberconflict favors the attacker. Cyberattacks are flexible enough to be effective for propaganda, espionage, and the destruction of critical infrastructure. The difficulty of obtaining reliable cyberattack attribution lessens the credibility of deterrence, prosecution, and retaliation. The "quiet" nature of cyberconflict means a significant battle could take place with only the direct participants knowing about it. The dearth of expertise and evidence can make victory, defeat, and battle damage a highly subjective undertaking. There are few moral inhibitions to cyberattacks, because they relate primarily to the use and abuse of data and computer code. So far, there is little perceived human suffering....
Source: Schneier on Security - Monday, 30 January
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