http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/11/writing_the_scariest_article_about_cyberwarfare_in_10_easy_steps By Evgeny Morozov Foreign Policy 04/11/2009 1. You need a catchy title. It pays to cannibalize on some recent tragic event from the real world; adding "cyber" to its name would usually trigger all the right associations. Studies show that references to "digital Pearl Harbor","cyber-Katrina", and "electronic 9/11" are most effective, particularly for stories involving electricity grids or dams. Never make any explicit attempts to explain the bizarre choice of your title– you need to leave enough ambiguity out there for your readers to "connect the dots" themselves. This is a win-win: readers love solving important cyberspy puzzles - and you could get away without doing any analysis of your own. Quoting real facts would spoil the puzzle-solving experience; plus, the fewer facts you quote, the harder it would be to debunk your story! 2. Begin the story in Estonia, with a reference to its 2007 attacks; make sure to play up the “E-stonia” tune and how the entire country was under online siege for a month (never mention that rioting in the Estonian streets was much more devastating and that the actual online siege lasted for twenty minutes at best). Setting the story in Estonia would also help to play up the Soviet threat that never really left the country. Blame NATO's impotence, praise Skype's genius, quote non-existent local Web entrepreneurs who lost all their savings in the 2007cyber-attacks. 3. Drop references to the evil Chinese hackers in every paragraph (in every sentence, if it's an article about GhostNet) . Don't forget to mention that cyberwarfare was first explained by Sun Tzu and has been part of the Chinese military tradition since the Shang dynasty. Make unverifiable claims about the tacit support that the Chinese government has offered to its nationalist hackers. Find and quote a Chinese blogger who can't log-in to his blog; quote from a recent Pentagon review of China's military power to explain why this may all be part of China's grand cyberwarfare strategy. 4. Mention the cyber-pranks of as many Kremlin-affiliated youth movements as you can, all the better if they are obscure or only exist on paper. Anyone whose last name ends in "-ov" or "-ev" qualifies as a Kremlin bigwig; use their every sneeze as an extremely accurate articulation of Kremlin's own thinking on cyberwarfare. Keep referencing shady Russian outlets like the Russian Business Network; the fact that they have not been in the news in 2007 only proves they are doing a great job in the cyber-underground. [...] _______________________________________________ Best Selling Security Books and More! http://www.shopinfosecnews.org/Received on Fri Apr 17 2009 - 02:19:33 PDT
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