February 12 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

ISN Security Watch has reported that “2008 will see an expansion of economic espionage in which nation-states and companies will use cybertheft of data to gain economic advantage in multinational deals.” Is this so much an expansion of a social-ill, or a facilitation?

As with many unsavoury issues related to the internet, such as cyber crime or bullying, this latest threat has its roots firmly planted outside of the cyber-world in physical reality. Contrary to what many would like to believe, insider trading and corporate espionage are nothing new, they didn’t just appear as a one-off Enron fiasco and they continue to occur in the U.S. and elsewhere every day. In fact, the bigger the business the more likely such grey-area techniques are used to gain an advantage over the competition. In many resource-rich developing countries, it’s common practice for some foreign-nationals to bug the meeting rooms and offices of potential clients in order to rig bids for lucrative contracts, guaranteeing success over competitors. That such tactics should be transferred to a cyber-world should come as no surprise.

Quite possibly because it makes better news, we have a tendency to splash our headlines with the latest technological scare. We are constantly warning the public of the dangers lurking everywhere in an e-environment: Mind your on-line behaviour facebook isn’t as private as you think, Cyber-bullying will destroy your child, Beware of cyber-crime, your identity is at risk! As a result, our focus is always directed on the technology, rendering the internet and other tools the risk as opposed to what actually is the threat.

Unfortunately, the fault is not to be found with technology, but with humans. If anything, something like the internet should be considered as somewhat of a mirror or looking-glass that only reflects the behaviour and flaws of humans, magnifying those tendencies back at us. Thus, old scams that prey on human weaknesses, such as greed, are facilitated through e-mail increasing the rate of such crime. Likewise, bullying which for so long has been ignored in our schools is only aggravated, becoming pervasive and unrelenting for victims. Economic espionage, like any other business process, is more accessible and streamlined. These threats aren’t new, however, they are just being facilitated through advancing technology.

Until we shift our focus away from the technology and onto the underlying threat that is human nature, these problems will only continue to worsen. As with many security related issues, our attention is misplaced on the immediate consequences - the tools, the victims or the crimes. As a result, we don’t dig beneath the surface of the situation to address the true source of the problem. Behind every issue undoubtedly stands a human. Our approach to security must begin to accept this fundamental principle if we are ever to achieve stability.

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February 12 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that “President Bush has promised…an estimated $6 billion to build a secretive system protecting U.S. communication networks from attacks by terrorists, spies and hackers.” Coming from the same government that enlisted the help of communications service providers to unlawfully spy on its own citizens, this plan seems more than a little questionable. Moreover, governments, like most big bureaucracy, tend to be the least effective at countering cyber-threats.

It will be interesting to watch this initiative as it moves forward. At least when it fails to protect against external cyber-threats, the government will have a fairly decent dossier built on the activities of those companies remaining in the U.S.

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