Hacking government IT systems – the next level of war.

There are increasing media reports of the vulnerability of government IT systems to hackers. While much of the media attention has been to Chinese attacks on systems at the US Pentagon, UK government and German government, we should not be deluded into thinking that this is a one way street. US, UK and German forces also hack Chinese and other government sites, including each other. What is interesting is to learn of the successes of the Chinese hacks. And what we can learn from the ongoing saga is that IT is another “nuclear” type warfare whose end-game has no winner.

As with Dr Strangelove’s saga with a Doomsday device, penetrating each others IT systems to get information, or, more critically, to disable them has one finale – social meltdown. It is the same old story of boys waving sticks at each other in the playground until everyone goes home bruised.

There is only one solution. Everyone learns to play nice. Of course that only happens with trust, which only happens with honesty and fair play. Until we can demonstrate that ourselves, we shouldn’t expect others to set an example. Watch out for the economic and social meltdown caused by a “virtual third world war” … maybe.

Further reading: Beware the Trojan panda concludes “The psychological effect of a cyberattack on America … could be as severe as the weapons of mass destruction.