Industry View

Georgia Cyber Attacks From Russian Government? Not So Fast

It is natural for people to link cyber attacks against Georgia to the Russian government's military actions. But industry expert Gadi Evron says the evidence so far indicates otherwise

By Gadi Evron

An Estonian colleague, Viktor Larionov, was quoted as saying that whether there is a cyber war in Georgia or not, we know there is in fact a media war in play just by switching channels between CNN, SkyNews and the two main Russian television channels - ORT and NTV. Both sides portray different facts and opinions.

Taking into consideration recent reports that Georgia has possibly lied about the extent and scope of the Russian attack in order to wage the PR war, everything else about this incident is now once again in question.

On a final note, it is often not understood that brute-force attacks (DDoS) destroy networks, which means most information warfare for much more important purposes such as espionage may lose their effectiveness. This calls for the attacker to consider a cost vs. benefit calculation in addition to deciding to take action.

Gadi Evron is recognized for his work and leadership in Internet security operations and is arguably the world's top expert on botnets. He is also considered an expert on corporate security, counterespionage and cybercrime. He founded the Israeli Government CERT and chairs worldwide conferences, vetted working groups and task forces. He has authored two books on information security and is a frequent lecturer.

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