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Russia and the United States are discussing how best to safeguard the internet against hostile attacks.

The talks, which are taking place between the US, Russia and a United Nations arms control committee, are aimed at finding ways of strengthening internet security and limiting the military use of cyberspace, according to a report in the New York Times.

Online attacks against government websites, corporate computer systems and other business-critical infrastructures have increased in the last two years. Anonymous hackers have managed to access the Pentagon’s computers and overwhelm government websites, and President Obama has ordered an urgent review of the United States’ internet security.

A number of countries are developing “cyber weapons” that can be deployed against online targets to disable critical computer networks that control power stations or government departments. Other cyber weapons are capable of covertly monitoring activity on “enemy” computer networks, and feeding it back to a central computer.

According to the New York Times, the talks between Russia and the US mark a “significant” shift in policy. Sources close to the discussions said the Obama administration was particularly aware of the growing threat posed by cyber warfare, and was seeking a “new approach” to deal with the problem.

Traditionally, the Russians have argued that an international treaty, similar to that used to limit the spread of nuclear and chemical weapons, could also be used to see off the challenges military cyber activity poses to the civilian internet. But the United States has said that it’s impossible to draw a physical line in a virtual world between the commercial and military uses of software.

Viktor Sokolov, deputy director of the Institute of Information Security in Moscow, said that the US position on internet security had changed in recent months: “The talks took place in a good atmosphere,” he told the New York Times. “And they agreed to continue this process. There are positive movements.”

The United Nations talks will resume in January, and both the US and Russia plan to attend an internet security conference in Germany later in the year.

Claudine Beaumont, Technology Editor

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Word of Welcome

In Uncategorized on January 26, 2008 by Admin.

We are very happy to welcome you on this first Blog of Competitive intelligence, of English expression, devoted to Central Africa (CEMAC). Rechearch, treatment and the analyses of strategic informations will be realized there with the profit of the economies of: Cameroun, Centrafrica, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad. Thank you to join us!

Guy Gweth
gwethmail@justice.com

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