Chinese Really Dig Cyberwarfare...You Think?

My ultra-favorite security magazine Security Management has written an articlle detailing the testimony of certain government officials and contractors before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commision. They informed the panel "that the Chinese government has embraced cyberwarfare and is directing its intrusions at U.S. government and critical infrastructure networks." According to Colonel Gary D. McAlum, director of operations for the Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations,

"The People's Republic of China has concentrated primarily on cyber-reconnaissance, particularly data mining, rather than cyberattacks."

What about all of the attacks originating from China we've been reading about? Don't fret. The Chinese have set a goal of 2050 to achieve "electronic dominance" through attacks on information infrastructure.

The DoD won't come out and say the world's second largest econoomy is vying for supremacy through hacking, it did note "a 31percent increase in malicious activity on its networks from 2006 to 2007." What attraction does cyberwarfare have fo such a country as China? It provide anonymity and an "asymetrical advantage", according to Dr. James Mulvenon, director of advanced studies and analysis for Defense Group, Inc..

Commission Co-chairman Peter T.R. Brookest cited attacks last spring on Estonia recalling that it wanted to evoke the collective defense clause of the NATO Charter and said "this is a question of escalation" moving from non-conventional to conventional, i.e. military, responses.

Mulvenon said there's no reason why the United States should restrict itself to trying to deter cyberattacks electronically. His next remark should sound familiar.

"We should ... begin with the premise that we have all the tools of ... national power, and in many cases it might not be to the U.S. advantage to respond to an electronic or cyberintrusion or cyberattack simply in that realm," he said. "We may, in fact, want to take advantage of escalation dominance that we have in other elements of national power, whether it’s military or economic."

CyberCommand anyone? What about this little tidbit from the article?

Michael R. Wessel said he fears that the perimeter security methods such as routers and firewalls used to protect against network intrusion are produced overseas, increasingly in China." Can we in fact have a secure perimeter," he wondered, "if in fact the Chinese are helping to build that perimeter?"

The nasty Cisco routers are keep creeping back into the blogosphere. For more information from Security Management, click here.

Duck, Boss!!

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballamer hid behind a desk, as a man was throwing eggs at him. He was addressing the audience at a university in Hungary. As he asks the group about their final exams, this guy stands up and began asking Ballmer about a deal between Microsoft and the Hungarian government that he claimed is costing Hungarian taxpayers.

The man, then, begins to throw an egg at Ballmer. The crowd laughs, at first, at the spectacle of Ballmer hiding behind a desk. For some reason, once he began throwing the final two volleys, people got upset and started yelling at the man.

One would hope Ballmer would have better security. I wonder why no one was there to get him out of there immediately. It might be time to review Microsoft's executive protection program.

Finally...Some Good news

It looks like the TSA has found something other than actor Dennis Farina's gun. Shemeka Greaves, a TSA officer at O'Hare International Airport, read a newspaper account about Janisia Grant, 8, who had disappeared with her mother a week ago Thursday, the TSA said in a news release.

According to the article, "Greaves checked the security tapes and confirmed that Janisia had been through an airport security checkpoint and boarded a plane to Atlanta with a companion, the TSA said. "

As you might imnagine, Grant's mother does not have custody of the child.