Marvin Ammori

A couple of interesting pieces from the folks over at Kings of War.  The first, by Thomas Rid, asks some practical questions about the worm and who is possibly responsible.  The second, by David Betz, tackles some broader questions about what Stuxnet means for the future of cyberspace and warfare.  Betz closes his piece with a compelling reflection:

Still, I can’t help but think that some watershed has been passed, that Stuxnet of September 2010 will be remembered rather in the way we do the aerial bombings of civilian centres by Zeppelin airships–not as particularly strategically significant at the time but as a harbinger of what is still to come.

Darren Pauli of ZDNet Australia reports on an Australian government official declaring that unless the cyber attack presents a threat to national security interests, private companies will be left to defend themselves from cyber attacks.  It remains unclear how the Australian government’s policy will mesh with existing international relationships and further efforts to collaboratively combat cyber threats.

Dan Williams from Reuters AlertNet discusses the increasing shift in focus to the cyber battlefield in Israel’s military strategy, and notes some of the “benefits” of an offensive cyber strategy when compared to conventional kinetic measures.

Grant Gross at IT World reports on the increasing demand for online privacy rules, the role that private enterprise plays in supplying those rules, and the underlying tension between the desire for privacy and developing technology that continues to be geared towards the personalization of data for users.

Peter Apps at Reuters discusses Iran’s potential retaliatory responses to the Stuxnet worm.  Experts warn that although Iran’s cyber warfare abilities are not well known and are likely less sophisticated than other countries, Iran could resort to kinetic responses through asymmetric warfare against vulnerable targets, all the while improving its cyber capabilities for future use.

David Kravets over at Wired discusses T-Mobile’s legal arguments in a federal case that for the first time raises the issue whether mobile providers may block message content they don’t like.

Tech Crunch reports that soon Saudi online media will be required to register with the government.

The Hill reports that US Cyber Command’s General Keith Alexander has raised the idea of such a regime for the protection of infrastructure and other high value networks from cyber attacks, but difficulties exist in accomplishing that goal.

Jeremy Kirk over at IT World reports on the increase and suggests it is largely due lax enforcement on the part of the Russian registrars and government officials.

From cnet UK – the EU has awarded €10m to Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems,  a team of diverse companies including Sony-Ericsson, BMW, and Deutsche Telekom, to develop a universal online-based application platform.