By Jim Tiller, Vice President, Security Professional Services, North America, BT Global Services
Back in 2000/2001 I started giving a number of speeches about cyber war. Funny thing was, back then, most of the audience concluded I was simply nuts. The concept that a war could occur in cyberspace seemed so surreal to most people.
Given how reliant we are on the digital world I thought it was obvious that issues in cyberspace would have implications in the physical world and the two would eventually become inseparable. With the rash of cyber policies emerging from governments, the recent report that the Pentagon has noted that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war is entirely predictable.
Today, technology – interconnected and interdependent technology – has become so integrated into how we function it’s nearly invisible. It’s not simply e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, cable TV, and iPads, but that’s what you see every day. Technology is what moves trains and trucks, electricity and water, food, fuel, and, importantly, money. It enables resources, such as emergency services, military, textiles, communication, transportation, and intelligence.
Technology, or more specifically cyberspace – a genera term representing a digital ecosystem – is a resource. And, it is a resource that has become essential to all other resources. As such, it is a force multiplier and can have far reaching effects. Although it may be hard to imagine, it is not beyond comprehension that a cyber-attack could result in the loss of life directly and indirectly. Disruptions in the digital world can have resonating impacts, most notably in the form of resource impedance, such as shutting off electricity, disabling the banking system, or shutting down the transportation infrastructure. It can affect production leading to economic instability and downstream civil unrest. We need to take a defensive stance to protect our resources, because without it, the country will dissolve and cyber space is no different from the other resources we seek to protect.
The resort to war is human and is usually a result over competition for resources. Accumulation of resources means power and, eventually, someone wants your resources and your power, or wishes harm against you because of your power. To ignore this is ignorance and denial resulting in being unprepared, ineffective, and, frankly, doomed.
So, what is my take on the Pentagon’s position? On a very basic level it is an acknowledgement of the importance of cyberspace as a resource, and this isn’t a bad thing. The point here is that, like it or not, an attack in cyberspace is quickly becoming indistinguishable from a physical attack and we must prepare, on many levels, for this outcome. I’m not suggesting you go off-grid, hide in a bunker, and fill your basement with food, water, and ammo… far from it. I’m saying understand the realities of the 21st century and recognize the entanglement of things we’ve tried too hard to view separately.
We need to come to grips with the importance of cyberspace, not only as a nation, but as a global community. I for one don’t. I don’t differentiate the relevance of cyberspace and our national infrastructure as separate resources. You can’t because the lines have grown so thin they are invisible. But know they are there and becoming more integrated and important every day.

