7/29/2019 Cybersecurity, The New Goose With Golden Eggs - Paulo
Jorge Alfaro
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Cybersecurity: the new goose with golden eggs?
Paulo Jorge Alfaro(*)(*)
Independent IT Trainer and Consultor
Graduate in Computer Science and Technology;
Post-graduate in Environment, Health and Safety;Post-graduate in
Business Administration
University of Azores;
Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal
[email protected]
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/paulo-alfaro/46/721/20a
It is said we live in troubled
times. It is said that, in times of crisis,
one must take the opportunities
available. For some years, now, thistopic of cybersecurity and
of the
strategic importance of cyberspace is
cause for concern, mostly to states such
as the United States of America and
recent events involving the wormstuxnet
and other occurrences involving
malware. Recently, on February the 5th,
the International Day for a Safe Internet,
I became interested in the subject and
started to read about it. I admit I still find
this subject to be somewhat of a tabu, in
Portugal. I wasn't able to find many texts
on the subject and those I did find are
mostly about the usage of malware as a
cyberweapon of dissuasion, operating
clandestinely in systems that are
controlled by networks or computer
equipment of countries that are or, at
least, are supposed to
be, a threat to the USA, such as Iran.
Regarding this, I have noticed that the
New York Times has published
numerous information(1). Ever since
Julian Assange became famous for his
Wikileaks and, keeping in mind that we
live in a post-9/11 world, some authors
have mentioned the urgent need of
taking a stand regarding potential newcyberterrorist threats.
Not to mention
cybercrime and cyberespionage. It is the
cyberfear. After all, as Barry Posen, MIT
professor of political science,
highlighted, cyberspace, alike otherglobal commons, is no longer
under
direct control of states but are vital for
passage of goods, people,
communication and data access upon
which every member of international
community depends(2). The risk is real.
In fact, the normalization of the use of
the internet allied to globalization has
risks, mainly associated with
vulnerabilities of many of the systems
we use daily without ever even thinking
much about it, such as the
banking/financial system or the traffic
lights. Even the threat of a cyberwar is
present, as was the suspected case of
Russia that, in the recent past, has been
in conflict with Estonia (2007) and
Georgia (2008). But I began to wonder
that maybe the subject had more about it
than meets the eye. I even begin to
believe that this may be the new goose
with the golden eggs and that much of
what happens and is told may be a
gigantic, in my view gruesome,
marketing campaign...Campaign,
because I find it odd that information of
military nature comes to light, when it is
known that the north-American militaryis more tight to
information leaks than
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7/29/2019 Cybersecurity, The New Goose With Golden Eggs - Paulo
Jorge Alfaro
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the Trieste(3). Can it all be planned
and thought as to feed the urges of a
people filled with desire for intrigue and
gossip? This kind of experiment
resembles conspiracy theories and, if
there is one subject which fascinates the
north-American public and, I dare say,
the whole world, is a good story which
involves conspiracies, ugly mean dirty
men (cyberterrorists supported by
countries unfriendly towards western
countries) and, just as in a good
Hollywood movie, good guys who
emerge victorious from all the mess,
resembling James Bond's movies. I
believe that, by the proliferation of
stories such as that of the stuxnet, the
marketeers behind all this aim for a
reaction of their audience, which is the
world: fear. Fear, that destructive
emotion and lever for many of the most
horrible actions ever engaged by
humans. It generates the need, the idea
and the desire for more security.
Cybersecurity, in this case. This is where
the USA become a part of the game and,
either by its own or in a group (for
example the USA and the NATO or even
the European Union), create agencies
such as the US Cyber Command or the
European Cybercrime Task Force, in an
attempt to, legitimately, minimize the
risks and the damage caused by the
potential threats already mentioned but,
overall, seeking the empathy of all of us.
Ultimately, it is our security that is at
stake but, attached to all of this come the
monetary gains and the memory of that,
in the game of war and safety, history is
filled with stories of men who made their
fortunes by making and selling weapons
(arms dealing). The weapons change but,
the fear, that evil, is the same.
(1)As an example, read the article "Obama Order Sped Up Wave of
Cyberattacks Against Iran"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-
iran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) dated 2012.06.01 or
"Cyberwarfare"
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nyt-
classifier) dated 2013.01.09;(2)
Acording to Vtor Rodrigues Viana editorial in "Nao e Defesa"
quarterly magazine, number 133,
2012;(3)
Bathyscaphe name used when the man reached the deepest point of
the ocean for the first time on
January 23, 1960, when hit the Challenger Depression, at the
depth of 10,916 meters in the Mariana
Trench.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifierhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifierhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifierhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifierhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifierhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifierhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
