Experts say cyberwar can backfire
Source: Agencies |
June 3, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Obama administration is warning American businesses about an unusually potent computer virus that infected Iran's oil industry even as suspicions persist that the United States is responsible for secretly creating and unleashing cyberweapons against foreign countries.
The government's dual roles of alerting US firms about these threats and producing powerful software weapons and eavesdropping tools underscore the risks of an unintended, online boomerang.
Unlike a bullet or missile fired at an enemy, a cyberweapon that spreads across the Internet may circle back accidentally to infect computers it was never supposed to target. It's one of the unusual challenges facing the programmers who build such weapons, and presidents who must decide when to launch them.
The Homeland Security Department's warning about the new virus, known as "Flame," assured US companies that no infections had been discovered so far inside the US.
The White House has declined to discuss the virus.
But suspicions about the US government's role in the use of cyberweapons were heightened by a report in Friday's New York Times. Based on anonymous sources, it said President Barack Obama secretly had ordered the use of another sophisticated cyberweapon, known as Stuxnet, to attack the computer systems that run Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities. The order was an extension of a sabotage program that the Times said began during the Bush administration.
The White House said on Friday it'd not discuss whether the US was responsible for the Stuxnet attacks on Iran.
"I'm not able to comment on any of the specifics or details," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "That information is classified for a reason, and it is kept secret. It is intended not to be publicized because publicizing it would pose a threat to our national security."
Cyberweapons are uncharted territory because the US laws are ambiguous about their use, and questions about their effectiveness and reliability are mostly unresolved.
The government's dual roles of alerting US firms about these threats and producing powerful software weapons and eavesdropping tools underscore the risks of an unintended, online boomerang.
Unlike a bullet or missile fired at an enemy, a cyberweapon that spreads across the Internet may circle back accidentally to infect computers it was never supposed to target. It's one of the unusual challenges facing the programmers who build such weapons, and presidents who must decide when to launch them.
The Homeland Security Department's warning about the new virus, known as "Flame," assured US companies that no infections had been discovered so far inside the US.
The White House has declined to discuss the virus.
But suspicions about the US government's role in the use of cyberweapons were heightened by a report in Friday's New York Times. Based on anonymous sources, it said President Barack Obama secretly had ordered the use of another sophisticated cyberweapon, known as Stuxnet, to attack the computer systems that run Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities. The order was an extension of a sabotage program that the Times said began during the Bush administration.
The White House said on Friday it'd not discuss whether the US was responsible for the Stuxnet attacks on Iran.
"I'm not able to comment on any of the specifics or details," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "That information is classified for a reason, and it is kept secret. It is intended not to be publicized because publicizing it would pose a threat to our national security."
Cyberweapons are uncharted territory because the US laws are ambiguous about their use, and questions about their effectiveness and reliability are mostly unresolved.
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