Headline Feb 16, 2018/ ''' CAUTIONS -*CYBER*- CUNNINGS '''

''' CAUTIONS -*CYBER*- CUNNINGS '''

SECURING THE WORLD - AGAINST cyberattacks from nations, criminal groups and vandals was very much on the agenda - when so many of-

The World's very top leaders gathered at the World Economics Forum in Davis, Switzerland, just weeks ago.

The real truth is that when the ''Wannacry'' ransomware attack spread across Britain, Japan and places in between last May, it took only a few days for private firms that looked at the CODE-

To come to some pretty quick conclusions.

The attack almost certainly came from North Korea. The North Koreans almost certainly used  computer code that had leaked from the inner sanctums of America's Master Agency : The National Security Agency.

And the ransomware part was a fraud : *If you paid off the hackers, your data still wasn't restored*.

YET it took until October for the  British government to identify North Korea as the culprit in an attack that paralyzed its health care system for a few days, and until mid-December for the-

Trump administration to reach that conclusion.

SO what was the penalty for Pyongyang for unleashing that devastating cyberattack? *There was none*.

Not even the kind of weak economic sanctions that the Obama Administration imposed on the North Korea three years before its attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

''President Trump has used just about every lever you can use, short of starving the people of North Korea, to change their behavior,'' Mr. Trump's Homeland Security adviser, Thomas P. Bossert, said when he made

''Name and Shame'' announcement blaming the North. ''So we don't have a lot of room left here to apply pressures.''

At the World Economic Forum, as usual, there were flurry of reports and entrepreneurs declared that they have technological solutions at hand.

But the fact remains that that the major powers of the world have been unable to come up a viable means of deterring the most damaging attacks.

Efforts to establish ''norms of behavior '' for a promising start, but are now falling apart.

*No can agree on when an act of aggression in cyberspace amounts to an act of war*.

The Pentagon, in its first nuclear strategy review since President Trump took office, is even proposing-

To use a threat of unleashing nuclear weapons against a country or a group that delivers a devastating cyberattack against the critical infrastructure of the United States or its allies.

BUT that doesn't help with the problem of everyday attacks.

The most talented state sponsors of attacks - mostly Russia, China, Iran and North Korea - have carefully calibrated their operations in cyberspace to achieve their strategic aims while avoiding a real shooting war.

So far they have succeeded.

While there have been indictments of Iranian and Chinese hackers in major strikes on the united States, they have never ever seen the inside of an American courtroom.

North Korea has been a case study in how a nation learns to make use of its cyberweapons for  disruption, revenge or profit, without fear of serious retaliation.

It has learned how to stack and station hackers around the word and has and has gotten away with bolder and bolder attacks, from Waanacry to its raid on Bangladesh central bank, which nearly resulted in a theft of a Billion Dollars.

[The transfers were halted after $81 million had passed through the Swift System, the International clearinghouse for transactions].

But the Bottom Line for the whole world is that :

States marry classic propaganda techniques with the  newest ways to spread divisive messages.

Time to monitor Cyberattacks.

The Honor and Serving of the latest *Operational Research* on Cyberattacks continues. And  The World Students Society thanks master researcher and writer Mr. David. E.  Sanger, for the insights.

With respectful dedication to the  Leaders, Technologists, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW! -the World Students Society and Twitter- !E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Elusive Cures '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless