Cyberspace, The Next Battlefield

While our grandparents and parents had to deal with world wars fought on
land, sea and air, future generations are going to have to worry about the
threat of attack on a new level: cyberspace.

A study released Tuesday by Gartner Research predicts voice over IP
and other converging network technologies make the possibility of a national-level cyberwar possible by 2009.

In the next couple years, the U.S. and other countries will likely have the
capability to wage cyberwar, the Gartner report states, while “brute force,”
or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, on VoIP
systems could become commonplace by 2007.

The research points to the telecommunications industry’s movement away from
a circuit-switched telephone network to the more
efficient packet-switching . The migration opens
critical communication services to Internet-like attacks.

VoIP is the most vulnerable, the report indicates, as the inherent latency
found in the communication medium makes it an easy target for an enemy to
launch a DDoS attack.

“Just like standard IP networking equipment, VoIP-specific equipment is
susceptible to traditional IP threats such as worms, viruses and
unauthorized system access,” the report stated.

Signaling System 7 , the circuit-switched technology used to
route telephone calls today, is pulling double duty on many of today’s
telephone networks. Not only is it handling the day-to-day copper-wire
telephone traffic but also being tapped more often by IP networks passing
off data information between telephone providers.

Technologies like SS7, LAN/WAN telephony and the data switches used by the
telephone companies will find itself the target of many of these
communications-based attacks.

First a fad, VoIP as a viable communications alternative is gaining serious
clout in the U.S. Telephone carriers AT&T , Qwest , SBC
and Verizon
have rollouts planned for this year, to stay in reach of
startup Vonage’s network.

Government oversight in the technology is minimal, with FCC Chairman Michael
Powell taking a hands-off approach and putting
discussion of the
technology
in working groups. A bill introduced Tuesday by U.S. Sen.
John Sununu looks to keep VoIP out of federal and state regulations
altogether.

“VoIP providers should be free from state regulation, free from the
complexity of FCC regulations, free to develop new solutions to address
social needs, and free to amaze consumers,” Sununu said recently.

While certain segments of the U.S. government are seeking unfettered VoIP
deployments, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been looking at
the vulnerabilities the technology brings to critical communications
services.

The National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) published “Risk
Management: An Essential Guide To Protecting Critical Assets,” in November,
2002, mainly as a guideline for land-based threats to communications
facilities in the U.S. However, it included the Internet as a source of
critical information services.

“Any organization that connects critical networks to the Internet must be
aware of events in the larger environment,” the report stated. “When
short-term periods of intense politically-motivated protests take place, the
infrastructure community can expect that it may be attacked, physically or
via cyber means, regardless of the individual organization’s involvement in
the event being protested.”

The NIPC reports private sector companies should focus on risk management,
not just risk avoidance. It suggests fives steps every company should take:
asset, threat, vulnerability and risk assessments as well as identification
of countermeasure options.

The Gartner report stated preparation for a cyberwarfare attack should be
proportional to the perceived risk. The tools are out there, the report
said, to protect the network.

“Most security technology, when used in conjunction with ‘best practices,’
is appropriate to the proportional risk presented by the threat of
cyberwarfare.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

News Around the Web