http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartlist_arquilla By Noah Shachtman Wired Magazine 17.10 09.21.09 The Pentagon already employs legions of elite hackers trained in cyberwarfare. But they mostly play defense, and that's what Naval Postgraduate School professor John Arquilla wants to change. He'd like the US military's coders to team up with network specialists abroad to form a global geek squad. Together, they could launch preemptive online strikes to head off real-world battles. Armies (even guerrilla armies) are so dependent on digital communications these days that a well-placed network hit could hobble their forces. Do these cyberattacks right.and openly.and the belligerents will think twice before starting trouble. Arquilla calls his plan "a nonlethal way to deter lethal conflict." Sure, it's risky. A misinterpreted or misattributed attack could inflame tensions. Or you might fritz the good guys and civilians by mistake. But Arquilla says this "kinder, gentler deterrence" is better than threatening to strangle an adversary's economy or reduce its cities to radioactive cinders. Here are three scenarios in which preemptive cyberattacks could prevent bloodshed. 1.)Scenario: Defusing South Asia Situation: Pakistan and India are massing armies on their shared border. Solution: Take out the command-and-control networks on both sides before these nuclear-armed foes can go to war for a fifth time. In the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, Arquilla notes, a benevolent alien shuts down the machines of Earth's superpowers before they can spread nukes to other planets. Here, US- led hackers play the ET role to put the conflict on ice. [...] ________________________________________ Did a friend send you this? From now on, be the first to find out! Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.orgReceived on Wed Sep 23 2009 - 22:18:37 PDT
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