http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/05/cyber_fail?page=0,0
After discussing in class how the internet has become a weapon to both posses but fear I found an article that talked about who exactly are the leading cyberpowers. According to Richard Clarke, who was the advisor to four presidents as well as a cyber expert, North Korea is actually the world’s leading cyberpower. He came to this conclusion by assessing countries based on their defensive and offensive capabilities as well as how dependent they are on the internet. He then concluded that North Korea was the leading cyberpower, not because they have the best attacking capabilities, but by combining their moderate attacking capabilities with pretty good cyber defenses, and combining that with the fact that there is not much in North Korea that relies on the Internet, Clarke concluded that North Korea was the leading cyberpower. Based on Clarke’s analysis Russia comes in second, China comes in Third, and finally the United States comes in fourth. This fourth place spot for the United States was due to the fact that the United States has poor defense capabilities as well as a high dependence on the internet. Due to these factors, the United States was unable to be called the leading cyberpower. According to the article, the United States can acquire better security by enhancing security in the public. This means that instead to mandate security for the public instead of allowing them to choose speed, variety of apps, weight, and color. As well as doing this, we need to start treating cyber security as a foreign policy issue and not just a domestic issue because as the article says “…if countries, can find a way to agree to norms that discourage cyberwar-making against civilian infrastructure…then it is just possible that the brave new virtual world will be a little less conflict prone.”
I agree that the United States should do what it can to make the public safer with respect to cyber threats. Its a new frontier and the laws simply haven’t caught to to the times. What’s more, we here about all the dangers of hackers and what they can do but few people seem to think of it largely relating to identity theft. That’s probably why there haven’t been so many calls to have legislation regarding increasing the internet security that should be used by the public. And the idea that it can become a foreign policy issue almost seems strange. It makes sense but I feel like the public consciousness just hasn’t made the connection between cyber security and foreign policy. Perhaps if it did, then the U.S. and it’s allies could better protect themselves.