LONDON
(AP) — America's new cyber czar said Wednesday that international law
and cooperation — not another treaty — was enough to tackle
cybersecurity issues for now.
Christopher
Painter, coordinator for cyber issues for the U.S. State Department,
declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday that said
the Pentagon was considering a policy that could classify some
cyberattacks as acts of war. He said the report was based on material
that had either not been released or discussed yet.
He
did, however, say that U.S. President Barack Obama's recent
cybersecurity strategy covered a myriad of different aspects, ranging
from international freedoms to governance issues and challenges facing
the military.
"We
don't need a new treaty," he told The Associated Press as he arrived
for an international cybersecurity summit in London. "We need a
discussion around the norms that are in cyberspace, what the rules of
the road are and we need to build a consensus around those topics."
New
cyber attacks are being perfected so quickly that the world needs a
nonproliferation treaty to control their creation and use, the chairman
of one of the world's largest telecommunications companies said
Wednesday.
Michael
Rake of BT Group PLC warned that world powers are being drawn into a
high-tech arms race, with many already able to fight a war without
firing a single shot.
"I
don't think personally it's an exaggeration to say now that basically
you can bring a state to its knees without any military action
whatsoever," Rake said. He said it was "critical to try to move toward
some sort of cyber technology nonproliferation treaty."
The
suggestion drew a mixed response from cyberwarriors gathered in London
for a conference on Internet security, although at least one academic
praised it for highlighting the need to subject online interstate
attacks to some kind of an international legal framework.
Cyberweapons and cyberwarfare have increasingly preoccupied policymakers as hacks and computer viruses grow in complexity.
Recent
high-profile attacks against Sony Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. have
made headlines, while experts described last year's discovery of the
super-sophisticated Stuxnet virus — thought to have been aimed at
sabotaging Iran's disputed nuclear program — as an illustration of the
havoc that malicious programs can wreak on infrastructure and industry.
"You
can close vital systems, energy systems, medical systems," Rake said.
"The ability to have significant impact on a state is there."
The
threat grows every day. Natalya Kaspersky, co-founder of anti-virus
software provider Kaspersky Lab ZAO, said Internet security firms were
logging some 70,000 new malicious programs every 24 hours. Shawn Henry,
executive assistant director of the FBI, said that last year alone his
agency arrested more than 200 cybercriminals.
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন