One of the most insistent voices in cyber security (I invite you to tell me just who) has been very clear that he (that’s a clue) thinks the metaphor is wrong, and potentially disastrously wrong, when we talk about “cyber warfare.” War, he insists, is not the same as what crackers do.
Except that now, maybe it is.
Like most security people, I’ve been watching the Stuxnet story closely since word emerged into the open about this strange virus that targets industrial control systems.
Bruce Schneier took note on his blog at http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/09/the_stuxnet_wor.html.
The German Langner group blogged extensively, for instance at http://www.langner.com/en/2011/02/21/matching-langner%E2%80%99s-stuxnet-analysis-and-symantec%E2%80%99s-dossier-update/.
And it became very clear this was as different from a “normal” piece of malware as the sun is from a candle. Now faithful reader Herbbie R. links me to a great Vanity Fair article at http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/04/stuxnet-201104. READ THIS ONE! Then I’d suggest a stiff drink.