There are multiple definitions of a cyber weapon, some better than others; but there is one characteristic all share: They all need to be expanded as technology evolves. Working on the issues, opportunities and implication of emerging technology is never dull and you always have so much to choose from when it comes to writing.
That being said, the last few weeks have taken this ever changing environment to a whole new level when it comes to cyber weapons. Not one but two pieces of technology, one of them hardware and the other one software, came into view. Both were mainly focused on commercial applications, but both had HUGE implications as cyber weapons.
The hardware technology that is most impactful is the first topic for this week. A new hardware platform was developed with some very unique features. As transactions are completed, there is no forensic (cyber or otherwise) evidence on the hardware of that transaction ever being done.
What is interesting is that I was even asked by those working on this who would be the best organization to independently verify this claim. If this holds true think about the implications! The development had been focused on the financial transaction environment.
The software piece of technology is not trivial in terms of implications either. This software would permit a cyber attacker to place a file on a computer with the most common configuration of widely used piece of software. There is no trace how the file got there even with all the security and forensic packages that are available today. The only trace of this activity is a log file that shows the date, time, files name, size and location of the foreign file or files that had been placed on the targeted computer.
This was presented to a former head of cyber forensic of a large well established law enforcement computer forensics lab. His initial response was very telling. All he could say was “Uhhhh!”
Talk about dual use technology.
