PerspectivesAre you interested in submitting a Perspective Article? Be sure to read The Science Advisory Board's Editorial Guides for Perspective Articles. Click here. Cyber Attack on Science by Kevin Coleman, Ph.D. What if the computers and internet went away? The scientific community has become addicted to computers to aide them in their research efforts. From research management to modeling and simulation to computerized instrumentation and experimentation, the computer has become a fundamental component of scientific research. Now add to the computer the Internet. From collaboration, to research, to communication and publishing of research, the Internet has become an indispensible tool for the global scientific community. So what would happen if the internet and computers were all of a sudden taken away? The answer is simple -- scientific research would all but grind to a halt. While this may sound farfetched, in reality it is becoming much more likely than most people think. The Risk Environment Cyber threats are growing exponentially. In 2007 there were over 120 countries developing cyber weapons up from under 30 in the previous year. Adding fuel to the fire, in 2007 a new software vulnerability was reported about every 57 minutes. Additionally, every 45 seconds a new piece of malicious code was discovered on the Internet. You can add to that data the fact that in 2004 a significant increase in the complexity and sophistication of cyber weapons like trojans, worms and viruses began to increase substantially and you can begin to recognize the risks.  May marked the one year anniversary of the first cyber war, the attack on Estonia. In the 12 month period we have heard about the 3 million attacks a day on the Pentagon, the security breach at Oak Ridge National Labs, the government of India protesting the attacks they are experiencing and the Belgian government's complaints about the cyber attacks their country has experienced. The trend is very clear. Cyber attacks are on the rise. Given the increase in the attacks the world is seeing, it would be prudent for all scientists and researchers to determine just how prepared they are if a cyber attack or war was to break out. This is not that difficult to do. Every time you log on to the Internet and use it for work, write it down. Every time you get information you need for your work via email, write it down. Every time a piece of equipment transmits data to your computer via a network, write it down. If you or your organizations are using VoIP (internet telephone services) you should add that to your lists as well. If you do that for a week you will clearly see just how dependent we have become on the Internet for our work. If you want a real eye opener, create a second list and do the same -- but for your personal life. Conclusion Cyber attacks are the most significant new menace for the 21st century. The Internet has become so important to business, government and society that it has emerged as a high value target for criminals, extremist groups, terrorists and rogue nation states. The number of computer viruses has now exceeded 1 million and the number of pieces of malicious code that has been identified exceeds 5.5 million. So many businesses rely on the internet and so many people communicate through the internet that the social and economic impact of it going away for even a day would result in catastrophic consequences. When you add the significant amount of corporate espionage (stealing our intellectual property and technology secrets) to the threat of cyber attacks, the already bleak picture gets even worse. How prepared are you? About the Author Kevin G. Coleman is a Senior Fellow and Strategic Management Consultant with the Technolytics Institute. He is the former Chief Strategist of Netscape and was a member for the Science and Technology Advisory Panel at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. He is a highly published professional and writes regularly for Eye Spy Magazine and authors the Cyber Warfare Blog for DefenseTech.org. ### << Previous Next >> [ View All Perspectives ] |
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