Air, Land, Sea, Cyber: NATO Adds Cyberspace To Operation Areas

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Phys.Org: On Tuesday, NATO decided to make cyber operations part of its war domain, along with air, sea, and land operations. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the decision is not aimed at any one particular country, just that allies need to be able to better defend themselves and respond to computer network attacks. Phys.Org reports: "The decision has been long in coming, particularly amid rising tensions with Russia, which has proven its willingness to launch computer-based attacks against other nations. About a year ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told NATO that it must improve its ability to protect itself before it builds its cyberwar capabilities. And he pledged that the U.S. would used its expertise to help allies assess their vulnerabilities and reduce the risk to their critical infrastructure. In 2014, after years of debate, NATO finally agreed that a cyberattack could rise to the level of a military assault and could trigger the Article 5 protections, which allow the alliance to go to the collective defense of another member that has been attacked. New research from the Pew Research Center shows that cyberattacks are the second most-feared entity among Americans after ISIS.

Spies

[Iamthecheese]

Spies have been around since before "air" and did much the same thing: information warfare. If IW wasn't a domain before computers there's no reason for it to be a domain now. the only new situation is programs that make decisions without human intervention and for the moment that's a very few drone, missile, and Close In Weapons Systems.When robot armies march o'er the land and are making tactical decisions this will make sense, but not before. This meaningless posturing is going to cost billions.

Spies are one thing; try working without a compute

[raymorris]

Yes, spies have been around forever. What's new is today most organizations can't function without their computer networks. In WWII, the combatants bombed each other's railroad networks, because with the railroad shut down the enemy couldn't move men and materials, production would largely shut down in the affected areas, etc. Today we're even more reliant on computer networks than we ever were on railroad networks.

If an enemy were to do substantial damage to our computer and network infrastructure, that wo

Re:

[AHuxley]

Most smart nations govs and mils can function just fine without consumer grade computer networks tracked by NATO.
Many have finally understood the NSA and GCHQ interest in all their local networks and communications systems going back to the 1960's.
Why not give the West something creative to find, worry about and read on local servers and watch for the reaction and leaks to the press about exotic projects countered by contractors and the mil?
The ability to keep data on a base or area for select trusted st

Re:

[TheRealHocusLocus]

War without borders, war without end
war on a stick, cut to the quick!
PSYOPs at iHOP rumors of war,
war-on-a-rope, Contras for dope,
securing the slippery slope
Spray war, stick-on-war, war paint
(apply DIRECTLY to the FOREHEAD)
war in the East, war in the West
war up North, war down South
WAR KITTENS [youtube.com]
IPv4 war, cryptowar, acronymwar
all made possible by excitable folk
using Microsoft PowerPoint

Re:

[Bob the Super Hamste]

I now feel the need to snap some.

NATO makes cyber operations part of war domain

[khz6955]

Defence against 'computer network attacks', that would be like trying to stop their Microsoft Windows computers being hacked. No one in their right minds would put Microsoft Windows anywhere near a war domain. Have they that short a memory:

Software glitches leave Navy Smart Ship dead in the water [gcn.com]

Technical Analysis of the August 14, 2003, Blackout: [nerc.com]

Slammer worm crashed Ohio nuke plant network [securityfocus.com]

Re:

[Iamthecheese]

So I actually read all that and it turns out unless you have insider information you're not giving the initial fail was due to a bug. But even if it were due to a virus (that you know about but the report doesn't mention) the cascading failures were due to first: inadequately robust software design turning a processor stall into a buffer overflow. (this wouldn't have been the virus) Second: inadequately robust system design turning the overflow into a missed alarm. Third: inadequately robust system design n

Dihydrogen oxide too.

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> New research from the Pew Research Center shows that cyberattacks are the second most-feared entity among Americans after ISIS.

#3 on the most feared list, slighly above manbearpig, is dihydrogen oxide. We MUST ban this dangerous compound now. Think of the children!
http://www.dhmo.org/

Cassandra statement #n+1

[ka9dgx]

Hi, I'm a modern day Cassandra... I've been shouting for years about a solution that can actually fix computer security, and render all this "cyberwar" crap obsolete...

Even the Wikipedia page is a mess, but you'll find the solution buried in it... it's called the Principle of least Privilege [wikipedia.org], and I figure it's 10 more years of hell before people catch on and actually start to fix things.

It is entirely possible to give users a modern GUI interface which transparently and intuitively allows them to decide whi

SELinux released December 22, 2000, needs a GUI

[raymorris]

> allows them to decide which resources a program should be allowed to access ...
> an OS that doesn't trust everything. (Good luck finding one!)

We've had that for 15 years. That's called SELinux (Security-enhanced Linux). Other alternatives are gresecurity and AppArmor.

> a modern GUI interface which transparently and intuitively

That's what is missing.
Right now, the easiest tools to use include a default set of rules, then show violations and let you add rules to allow it next time.

It needs to be said

[Bob the Super Hamste]

I am the very model of a modern Cyber General
I've information secretive and knowledge technological
I know my way around the tubes and quote the cryptological
From Adi, Bruce and Len to Ron in order alphabetical!


While I wish I could have claimed it as my original that belongs to Arancaytar with this post [slashdot.org].

wow!

[Gravis Zero]

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told NATO that it must improve its ability to protect itself before it builds its cyberwar capabilities

talk about the pot calling the kettle black!