Expert visits Stevens to distinguish cybersecurity hype from reality

I am a cyberwar skeptic. When U.S. officials and defense contractors warn of the looming threat of cyberattacks from China, Iran and terrorist groups, I get suspicious. These claims remind me too much of the fear-mongering that drove the nuclear arms race when I became a journalist in the early 1980s.
On the other hand, experts whom I trust, such as Dave Farber, a computer scientist and pioneer of the internet, assure me that cyberthreats, while exaggerated by parties with ulterior motives, are all too real.
I’m always on the lookout for sources that can cut through the haze of hype, classification and technical jargon obscuring the issue of cybersecurity. That’s why I welcome the new book “Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know”, by Peter W. Singer and Allan Friedman, scholars at the Brookings Institution, a prominent think tank.
While explaining why they wrote their book, Singer and Friedman state that “no issue has emerged so rapidly in importance as cybersecurity. And yet there is no issue so poorly understood.” Singer and Friedman hope that by educating the public, they will promote a more constructive, inclusive conversation about “how to protect ourselves and our families from a new type of danger.”
Published by Oxford University Press, their book takes the form of a Q&A, with sections exploring “How It All Works”, “Why It Matters”, and “What Can We Do?”. Singer and Friedman acknowledge that many companies stand to benefit by whipping up fears of cyberattacks. “The rise in cybersecurity as an issue has gone hand in hand with a boom in the number of companies trying to make money from it.”
Between 2001 and 2012, the number of firms lobbying Congress on cybersecurity issues surged from 4 to 1,489. As spending on conventional weapons systems has flattened or declined, defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and BAE have begun aggressively marketing cybersecurity products.
Inevitably, the growth of this “cyber-industrial complex,” Singer and Friedman say, has been accompanied by “hype inflation,” ranging from the “mischaracterization of unsophisticated attacks as war to full-blown falsehoods.” One example of the latter is the claim propagated in 2009 by 60 Minutes and other media outlets that cyber-criminals caused power blackouts in Brazil.
But some cyber-threats are genuine, Singer and Friedman insist, and as technology evolves, new threats will undoubtedly emerge. Singer and Friedman point out that cybersecurity efforts will be complicated by several emerging trends, such as the “Internet of Things.”
The phrase refers to the linkage of an ever-widening range of devices-including not just digital computers, phones, televisions and cameras but also toilets, thermostats, exercise bikes, cars, garage doors, refrigerators and anything in which a chip can be embedded—to the internet.
This trend could “enable cyberattackers to penetrate far deeper into our lives than ever before,” Singer and Friedman warn. “If everything around us makes important decisions based on computerized data, we’ll need to work long and hard to make sure that data is not corrupted.”
I’m a fan of Singer’s previous book, Wired For War, a 2009 report on the military’s growing dependence on drones and other robots. In 2009 I brought Singer to Stevens to give a talk. Since then, I have relied on him as a source in my writings on drones and the ethics of military research. Singer shows that a scholar can explore a serious, complex issue in a manner that appeals both to experts and to ordinary folk.
He’s the kind of communicator that I want students in the new Science Communication program to emulate. That’s why I bringing him to Stevens again to talk about his new book on Wednesday, February 12, 2014, at 4 p.m., in the Babbio Center. The event is co-sponsored by the Stevens Deans’ Seminar Series and the College of Arts & Letters. I hope to see you there.
John Horgan directs the Center for Science Writings, which is part of the College of Arts & Letters. This column is adapted from one originally published in his ScientificAmerican.com blog, Cross-check.”