‘Cyber cold war’ developing – McAfee report

According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, it says governments and government-allied groups are engaging in increasingly sophisticated cyber spying, with many attacks originating from China. About 120 countries could be developing the capacity for such activities. What started as probes to see what was possible have become well-funded and well-organised operations for political, military, economic and technical espionage, the report says, with perpetrators aiming to cause havoc by disrupting critical national infrastructure systems. Targets include air-traffic control, financial markets, government computer networks and utility providers. In September it was reported that Chinese hackers, including some believed to be in the state military, had been attacking the computer networks of British Government departments, including the Foreign Office. China has spelled out in a white paper that ‘informationised armed forces’ are part of its military strategy. McAfee, whose report was compiled with input from Nato, the FBI and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency, quoted Nato insiders as saying that the cyber attacks on Estonia last year, which disrupted government, news and bank servers for weeks, was the tip of the iceberg. Full Mail & Guardian Online report Download the McAfee report