US researcher says cyber space situation reminiscent of star

US researcher says cyber space situation reminiscent of start of nuclear
age

TALLINN, Jun 11, BNS - The cyber space situation at present is reminiscent
of the early days of the nuclear arms race and this is geo-politically
dangerous, says U.S. researcher Daniel Bilar, one of the speakers at the
international cyber conflict conference in Tallinn that ended on Friday.

Dr. Bilar, director of research at the computer security company Siege
Technologies, said prevailing at the conference was the realization that
networks of all sorts are a much larger force multiplier for creative
destruction than previously believed. "Networks changed the name of the
game: it is now possible to effect large scale societal, financial and
political changes in a blink of an eye," he told BNS.

In Bilar's view, the situation is comparable to the time period of nuclear
strategy before second strike capabilities where there is once again a
first strike advantage. "This is geo-politically dangerous because it is a
geo-politically unstable point: he who fires the first prepared salvos in
a cyberphysical war will win."

The more advanced and open a society is, the more vulnerable it is to such
strikes, Bilar said. "We need a clearly articulated MAD (Mutually Assured
Destruction) doctrine for the cyberphysical age, with iron-clad triggers
and decision points," he said.

The four-day 3rd International Conference on Cyber Conflict, organized by
the Tallinn-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence and
opened by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, brought to Tallinn 300
specialists from 37 countries.

Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8863, sise@bns.ee