Once the exclusive domain of a small number of geniuses, hacking has gone "mainstream" as an element of national defense. The United States has established a four-star Cyber Command to provide coordinated military digital response after suffering massive data breaches. NATO established the Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Estonia after that nation was the target of extensive cyber attacks. When Georgian government systems came under cyber attack during the Russian offensive in Abkhasia and South Ossetia, the nation shifted critical Internet assets to a private hosting company in Atlanta, USA. Subsequently those systems came under attack. At what point does hacking (read, "computer network attack") rise to the level of warfare? Could United Nations Article 51 be invoked to engage collective self-defense against an attacker? How well informed are political leaders that will decide how a nation will pursue its cyber objectives? What role should we play as cyber-citizens? We'll examine some of the skirmishes that have set the stage for all-out cyberwarfare, and explore reasons why we haven't yet fought the "big one."
G. Mark Hardy is founder and President of National Security Corporation. He has been providing cyber security expertise to government, military, and commercial clients for over 30 years, and is an internationally recognized expert who has spoken at over 250 events world-wide. G. Mark serves on the Advisory Board of CyberWATCH, an Information Assurance/Information Security Advanced Technology Education Center of the National Science Foundation. A graduate of Northwestern University, he holds a BS in Computer Science, a BA in Mathematics, a Masters in Business Administration, a Masters in Strategic Studies, and holds the GSLC, CISSP, CISM and CISA certifications.