Analysis: Cyber raids unlikely to stir faster global action
A major new hacking attack underscores that governments and companies are losing the war against cyber thieves, but it's unclear if the disclosure will prompt quicker global action against online break-ins. A US report that intruders breached the computer networks of 72 organisations around the world over a five-year period in the biggest hacking campaign found to date will be seized on by Western states to call for tougher digital defences. "This is the biggest transfer of wealth in terms of intellectual property in human history," said Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of Threat Research at US security company McAfee, which produced the report. McAfee said it believed there was one "state actor" behind the attacks but declined to name it, though one security expert who has been briefed on the hacking said the evidence points to China. There was no comment from China on the report. Evidence of official Western concern about the raids surfaced on Wednesday when Britain's electronic spy agency issued a rare public comment, saying the report illustrated the importance of better cyber security for trade and social development. At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said US President Barack Obama was working to tighten the defences of both the government and private sector. Echoing that view, the British-based International Cyber Security Protection Alliance, which helps law enforcement agencies tackle online intruders, said the report showed cyber warfare had escalated to a degree that was irrefutable. STIGMA WANING, BUT SLOWLY Despite growing alarm in Western governments, a host of obstacles stands in the way of a safer online world, not least the reluctance of stigma-conscious companies to report attacks. That reluctance is eroding, following publicised strikes on Western and multilateral institutions in 2011, but not quickly enough for the liking of many security experts. Mohan Koo, chief executive at security firm Dtex, said the report would encourage more companies to speak out and pool experiences to combat what he calls the hacking epidemic. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, told Reuters the McAfee report was another important reminder for all firms and governments to take computer security seriously. IDEOLOGICAL DIVIDE DEEPENS "There is still a reluctance amongst organisations to believe this is happening -- especially of course when it's a security company making the statements -- but that is slowly diminishing and CEOs are becoming more aware," said Tony Dyhouse, of Britain's ICT Knowledge Transfer Network, a multi-industry forum on innovation. Then there is the fact that all sophisticated governments try to snoop electronically on each other. What also complicates cyber diplomacy is an ideological divide between Western nations and more authoritarian societies.
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