Cyber War: The Next Threat to national Security and What to do aboout it

Clarke defines Cyberspace as all of the computer networks in the world and everything they connect and control". He proposes that in an all-out Cyber War, the U.S would be particularly vulnerable because of our reliance on digital controls. This is easy to believe if you have ever experienced several days without power due to a storm or perhaps the grid outage in 2003. Clarke sites the Slammer worm as partially responsible for the Northeast blackout of 2003.

The book details the use of hacking just prior to the Israeli attack on a Syrian nuclear facility. Clarke theorizes that code injected in to the Syrian defense system prior to the air attack, made the Israeli jets virtually invisible rendering the system useless. A successful Russian attack on Estonia shut down the banking system. This is not what we typically think of when we imagine warfare.

Clarke argues that the world balance of power is shifting. In an all-out Cyber war, Clarke says that it is uncertain who would actually win. He makes the case that the war has already begun with many Nation States employing hundreds if not thousands of hackers who are inserting logic bombs and trap doors in our Nation's infrastructure systems every day. Utilities, money markets and even our nuclear weapons systems are at risk.

In the chapter entitled "Cyber Warriors", Clarke paints a chilling picture of the complete and systematic collapse of the Nation's Internet, DoD systems, SCADA, Air traffic control etc. in a mere 15 minutes. Little wonder that, Clarke, having presented us with such a dramatic, dooms-day scenario; it is easier not to believe.

The book is interesting and certainly sparks conversation and debate. Experts argue over the authenticity of much of the book and site the lack of references and footnoted events as one of its failings. Some even claim that many of the "real" events described by Clarke can and have been explained by failings having nothing to do with the cyber grid. I myself have to ask, if events such as the grid failure in 2003 were actually exacerbated by the Slammer worm, would the authorities really want us to know?

Whether you are a techno geek, a conspiracy theorist, a naysayer or just a curious reader, Cyber War, will make you think about the security of our most valuable resources. Given Clarke's history of sounding unheeded warnings of the real threat of Al Qaeda and the 911 terrorist plot, perhaps we should take his warnings more seriously. At the very least, I would agree that more resources, more training, more awareness are needed. Not just for our military and government, but for all of us interconnected in cyberspace.