The anti-pattern “X for Y” is a sketchy way to start any tech think piece, and with “cyber” stories guaranteeing eyeballs, you’re already tired of the many horrible articles predicting a “Digital Pearl Harbour” or “cyber Armageddon”. In this case however, we believe this article’s title fits and are going to run with it. (Ed’s note: So did all the other authors!)
The past 10 years have made it clear that the internet, (both the software that both powers it and the software that runs on top of it) are fair game for attackers. The past 5 years have made it clear that nobody has internalized this message as well as the global Intelligence Community. The Snowden leaks pulled back the curtains on massive Five Eyes efforts in this regard, from muted deals with Internet behemoths, to amusing grab-all efforts like grabbing still images from Yahoo webcam chats(1).
In response to these revelations, a bunch of us predicted a creeping Balkanization of the Internet, as more people became acutely aware of their dependence on a single country for all their software and digital services. Two incidents in the last two months have caused these thoughts to resurface: the NotPetya worm (2), and the accusations against Kaspersky AV.
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