Ragazzi, giuro che per il momento è l’ultimo cyber-post (o anche “post sulla CMF”) e dal prossimo si torna a parlare di cose… serie . Non potevo non segnalare il seminario che ieri Nigel Inkster ha tenuto in Bahrein.
Anche questa volta ci sono dei passaggi che ho trovato interessanti e che sottopongo all’attenzione dei gentili lettori.

Sul concetto e la definizione di cyberspazio:

The title of my presentation refers to “cyberspace”, a term which has acquired widespread currency. But so far I have used the term “cyber domain” which I actually prefer. The word space has about it the connotation of a physical environment, like the oceans or space itself. But nobody provided the oceans or space; they are simply there and it is up to us how we use them. Cyberspace on the other hand is the totality of the networked systems and the information passing over these systems which make up the World Wide Web. Some academics have argued that the whole has grown beyond the sum of the parts to the point where cyberspace has become autonomously self-generating and hence no longer susceptible to deliberate change. But that assertion to my mind overlooks the basic reality which is that unlike space itself, or the oceans, somebody has provided the physical infrastructure and software which collectively makes up cyberspace and which can in principle be closed down or dismantled. If for example one looks at a map showing the undersea fibre-optic cables which carry the overwhelming bulk of Internet traffic – and for which no amount of satellites would be an effective substitute – it becomes evident that there are a few key choke points the disruption of which would effectively close the network down.

Sulle origini e la “mission” di internet:

The precursor to the Internet was developed for military purposes. But those  responsible for the development of the Internet in the form we now know it were idealists not motivated by considerations of military or political power but rather by considerations of empowerment, enabling and promoting the free and untrammelled flow of information and ideas.  Considerations such as security never entered into their calculations

Sulla proprietà di hardware e software (ed implicitamente sul softpower…):

The infrastructure, hardware and software which collectively make up the Internet is still overwhelmingly western. A decade ago, over 90% of the world’s Internet traffic transited the USA. That figure is still in excess of 50%.  Send an e-mail from Peshawar to Lahore and the chances are it will go via the USA – which is good news if you work on counter-terrorism though not so good if you’re Ayman Zawahiri.  Software companies such as Microsoft and Google are able, by developing one software option rather than another, to exercise influence which in some senses is beyond what any nation-state could aspire to do.  But most of all, the majority of information and ideas which are transmitted by the Internet are western in origin.

Sul cyberwarfare:

I’m not entirely sure what cyber warfare means or what it would look like – or even if it is a meaningful term. And in this context I would draw to your attention some observations by Martin Libicki, the Rand Corporation’s cyber guru, as follows:
-Nobody ever forces an entry in the cyber domain. If your system is breached, this is because there was a way in which, due to the complexity of the system, you had been unaware of.
-No-one has yet verifiably been killed or seriously injured because of an attack on an ICT system.
-No attack on any ICT system has ever inflicted irreparable damage. If your system comes under attack, you close it down, disinfect it and resume operations.
-While much attention is focused on cyber warfare, a still largely untested proposition, virtually no attention is given to electronic warfare which is an existing reality. The electro-magnetic pulse from a small nuclear device detonated in space would cause widespread, indiscriminate and possibly irreparable damage. The only way this could be achieved in the cyber domain would be through the large-scale and systematic destruction of physical infrastructure.