Schneier on Security

A security guru has debunked cyber war and cyber terrorism myths.

The threats of cyber war and cyber terrorism have been grossly exaggerated and are hindering a real understanding of risks on the internet, one of the world’s leading information security experts has said. Bruce Schneier, the author and security technologist who is also chief security technology officer with BT, was speaking in Dublin yesterday at an event held by the Irish Institute for European Affairs (IIEA).

Schneier referred to the denial of service attack in Latvia in 2007, which brought down several government services for a time, and said it was most likely the first such cyber war attack against a state. However, he pointed out that just one person was convicted—an ethnic Russian living in Latvia who was apparently angered by the authorities’ decision to remove some statues dating from the Communist era…