Information Warfare: June 18, 2003

Archives

The dire warnings of cyberwar, from Arab and Moslem nations if the United States invaded Iraq, never came to pass. Actually, in the last six months, less than one percent of all known computer hacking attempts have come from nations (like Iran, North Korea, Indonesia and Pakistan) on the  Cyber Terrorist Watch List. In fact, 35 percent of hack attacks came from the United States. The fact of the matter is that hacker activity is linked more closely with education levels and computer ownership. In both categories, the largely Moslem nations on the Cyber Terrorist Watch List are way down at the bottom. Not that a small, dedicated crew of crack (or just persistent) terrorist hackers couldn't get lucky. In the wake of September 11, 2001, it's hard to dismiss those long shots anymore.