Okay. The CIA is engaging in Operation Silent Horizon, a three day wargame meant to simulate a cyber terror attack on th United States. A cyberattack would cripple much of the U.S. economy, including government and corporate entities that rely on internetworking to function. Although reports apparently keep cyber terrorism on a low-risk assessment, my thoughts are that it is the perfect way to bring this nation, and indeed the world, to its knees.
My main question, and perhaps a reader who has more knowledge of this case than I do can enlighten me, is how do you simulate an attack which is supposed to gauge the responsiveness of not only the government but business without actually affecting their business? It seems like the real way to measure readiness is to make the sysadmins and hackers employed as the first line of defense think that they are really under attack and, indeed, actually attack them. These guys will know after a bit that it is a false alarm if it truly not a legitimate attack, and then the results of such a test would be skewed. The only way to get an accurate assessment from a wargame is to actually attack. Right?
So I’ll be watching this. It should be fun.
