Cyber Security

Technology isn’t human, but it has stages of life. The period after the conception of a new piece of technology is often marked by significant investments of time and resources, often with little tangible return. If this work is successful, the technology begins to enter use, benefiting from iteration and design improvements. It may then begin to spread, gaining in popularity and begetting virtuous economies of scale. If all continues to progress, the technology will mature in the marketplace. Even if it attains market dominance, however, that position will not be permanent.

Amid the raging debate on cryptography, Apple CEO Tim Cook insisted, “You can’t have a backdoor that’s only for the good guys.” In other words, security sometimes means denying yourself a capability so that adversaries are less likely to gain it. Some policy options, such as unlocking the phone of a suspect, are blocked in order to preserve a more secure computing ecosystem.

For much of the early 2000s, the worst job in terrorism was “Al Qaeda’s third-in-command.” During one hot streak, as Timothy Noah reported, the United States killed four of the men in that seat in as many years. Today, in one sign of how much warfare has since evolved, individuals who lead Islamic State hacking efforts have an even shorter life expectancy. With the recent announcement that a U.S.

Global terrorism is increasingly characterized by online activity, while counterterrorism requires understanding an adversary’s new media and cyber capabilities. Terror organizations hack and tweet in order to recruit, fundraise, promote ideologies, and coordinate kinetic attacks. With that in mind, the Digital Futures Project is compiling a timeline of milestones in digital terrorism, including the release of encryption programs and OpSec manuals for jihadists, data breaches and doxes, and other incidents. Entries are tagged with keywords and followed by brief summaries.

On December 11, 2015, Islamic State supporters published the home addresses of dozens of national security officials. It isn’t clear that the details are authentic, or that they were gathered via anything more sophisticated than Google, but the move marked a growing interest in low-grade digital conflict — the spread of an Ashley Madison way of war.

Governments are not wired — physically or intellectually — to embrace technology. In 1922, the Michigan Supreme Court warned that cars would offer criminals and anarchists a “means of silent approach and swift escape unknown in the history of the world before their advent.” They urged a national debate: “The question of their police control and reasonable search . . . is a serious question.”

The United States and China are attempting to negotiate what would be the first cyber arms-control agreement to ban peacetime attacks on critical infrastructure. The talks reflect the commitment that Washington and Beijing made at the conclusion of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent U.S. visit to “identify and promote appropriate norms of state behavior in cyberspace.” The first ministerial-level meeting on cybersecurity is due to take place before the end of this year.