WHAT is the best way to defend against cyberattacks? If leaked US guidelines are anything to go by, deterrence through the promise of a massive counter-attack is one favoured strategy, while a cyberattack from a foreign nation will be treated as an act of war. 鈥淲e鈥檒l send a bomb down your smokestack,鈥� promised one official.
But the threat is more diverse than ever before, ranging from hacker collectives to crime syndicates (see 鈥�The defenders: Inside an online siege鈥�). A faceless bunch of hackers have no smokestack to bomb. Far better, then, to strengthen defences.
Such initiatives are under way. The UK Cyber Security challenge and its US counterpart mark the first attempts at finding the next generation of cyber-defenders. We wish them well. Solid defences have got to be preferable to the threat of escalating warfare.
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