Article 14: July 1

I remember reading an article about President Obama creating a job in the White House for internet security, well that position now seems like a great idea. There seems to be a cyberwar occurring. Russia and the United States cannot agree how to stop the growing threat of cyber attacks that could cause a catastrophe within the cyber world. A senior State Department official said that both nations agree that cyberspace is an emerging battleground. President Obama is going to address the issue when he visits Russia at the General Assembly of the United States.

However, Russia wants an international treaty, while the United States believes a treaty is unnecessary. This disagreement over the approach to stop the cyberwar has hindered cooperation among international law enforcement and the major proportion of attacks to the United States are coming from Russia and China. Recognizing the need to deal with the growing threat of cyberwar, many countries, including the United States, are developing weapons for it, like "logic bombs" that can be hidden in computers to halt them at crucial times .

I believe that cyberwar is going to be a big issue and needs to be thought about carefully so we can be prepared. Linton Wells II a former high-ranking Pentagon official who now teaches at the National Defense University said “The challenge became apparent in 2001, after a Navy P-3 surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter plane and the collision was followed by a huge increase in attacks on United States government computer targets from sources that could not be identified” (Markoff 1). Our society already has to deal with so many different types of threats and now we need to be prepared for another type of threat. I think it is time for Russia and the United States to come together and figure out a way to stop these cyber attacks.

References:
Article Used: US, Russia in dispute over computer attacks: report. 27 June 2009. 29 June 2009 http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090628/pl_afp/usrussiaitcomputerdiplomacy.

Markoff, John. U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace. 27 June 2009. 29 June 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/world/28cyber.html?partner=rss&emc=rss.