When it comes to a future cyberwar, the issue is no longer if it’ll happen. Instead, the concern is when it’ll happen, how bad it’ll be, and how many attacks we’ll have to withstand. Homeland security begins at home and in David’s ongoing work for the Digital Defense of America, you can learn about both the risks involved, and some possible solutions.
The following Digital Defense library is gratefully reprinted with permission of Counterterrorism Magazine: The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security Int’l.
Worst Nightmare: Emergency Communications
Emergency communications can be disrupted by hackers and terrorists.
Cyberwar Spotlight: Mobile, Authentication, and Healthcare
Mobile is taking over the world.
Stick your head between your knees and kiss your assets goodbye.
Deconstructing Stuxnet: The Beast Is Loose
The problem is this: the genie was let out of the bottle.
Cyberwar Spotlight: North Korea
A deep analysis of the darkest nation on the planet reveals troubling details.
A look behind the front-lines of a potentially dangerous nation.
Beware the Insider Cyber-Threat
Pay attention to threats originating inside your firewall.
Game-Changing Threat: The Rise of the Hacking Collective
Devastating attacks no longer need the resources of a nation.
Night Dragon: Cyberwar Meets Corporate Espionage
Cyberwar techniques are being used to steal corporate secrets.
Lessons Learned From the Wikileaks Fiasco
Three important homeland security lessons you can take from the Wikileaks saga.
The Threat of "Sleeper" Software
Foreign commercial software installed on our computers could be a hidden threat.
Can Terrorists Brainwash Your Car?
Now there’s a new threat: car hacking.
Rogue Smartphones and the Rise of the Mobile Botnet
Smartphones are being infected at a record pace. They’re mobile and they’re nasty.
State-Sponsored Cyberterrorism
A look into China and North Korea and what they may be planning.
USB: The Trojan Horse of Digital Technology
The USB port on most computers can open a back door into any secure facility.
Using Online Social Networks in Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement
Social networks can give us a look inside the minds of the bad guys.
How Critical Infrastructure is at Risk of a Cyber Attack
The threat is real, there won’t be just one attack, and it’ll hurt.
When Your Phone Turns Against You
When it comes to cybersecurity threats, even the lowly phone can turn on us.
Move over IEDs: the age of ICCDs (Improvised Computer Controlled Devices) may be soon upon us
Our enemies may soon incorporate intelligence into their destructive devices.
When it comes to a future cyberwar, the issue no longer is if it’ll happen.
Other digital defense articles
The following is a small selection of David’s other national security articles from around the Web.
What’s particularly disturbing in a post-9/11 America supposedly more aware of national security issues is just how much confidential American data is finding its way into the hands of foreign nationals.
Last week, The National Archives — a repository of important government documents, including the U.S. Constitution — announced it had lost a computer hard drive. Congressional aides briefed on the matter say it contains "more than 100,000" Social Security numbers and Secret Service and White House operating procedures. David Gewirtz tells us why we should be concerned.
Zombies. I hate zombies. I particularly hate it when wave after wave of zombies come at you, eating brains and dripping flesh. And yet they came – zombies…everyday computers, brains hijacked by outsiders and linked together to form an army on the attack – they came in droves.
It used to be spying was hands-on. To turn someone into an Aldrich Ames, you had to tempt them with money or revenge or ideology, promise them sex or catch them at it. Today’s spies are less like a real-life James Bond and more like Lewis Skolnick from "Revenge of the Nerds".
Like two schoolhouse enemies forced to work together on a class project, the fortunes of China and the United States are inextricably linked. But that doesn’t mean both nations have to see eye-to-eye on everything – or that they even play well with one another.
The risk isn’t just about military contractors and national security. These programs can upload whatever they find on your computer and share them with everyone. They can upload your banking information, your medical history, everything you’ve got in My Documents, your passwords, your credit card numbers, and even that embarrassing love letter to the hottie working Thursday nights at the local Taco Bell.
How exactly do two super-secret stealthy submarines, hiding out in 77.6 million cubic miles of Atlantic Ocean, somehow manage to occupy the exact same space at the exact same time, and have a nuclear-powered fender-bender?
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigation arm of the United States Congress. This month, the GAO released a 74-page report entitled "National Archives and Selected Agencies Need to Strengthen E-Mail Management". After reading the report, we made three key observations. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has completely abdicated responsibility for investigating records management in the U.S. government, putting all U.S. government record-keeping at risk. The four agencies investigated by the GAO aren’t doing all that bad by government standards, but by corporate standards, oh boy! And, it wouldn’t be a new article with a new security risk, this time there’s a whopper at the Department of Homeland Security and another at the Federal Trade Commission.
Oh boy! Here we go again. Another senior government official has had his BlackBerry stolen by another foreign intelligence agency. But this time, it’s not an American official. According to the U.K.’s The Sunday Times a senior aide to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had his BlackBerry stolen by Chinese intelligence agents while on a trip to China.
Our ongoing story about the security of White House email took a strange turn on Friday, proving some of the national security concerns I’ve been discussing to be true in a particularly tangible and unfortunate way. What makes this topic so troubling, of course, is the serious national security breach that may have occurred. But there’s more to the story, including issues of the relationship between the United States and Mexico, and even how racial stereotyping may have contributed to spinning this story in a way that may be obscuring the true magnitude of the possible damage to our national security.
David is the founder of ZATZ Publishing, one of the first technology magazine publishers on the Internet. 
David is CBS Interactive's Distinguished Lecturer. He also hosts ZDNet's DIY-IT and ZDNet Government blogs. 
David is Director of the U.S. Strategic Perspective Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit research and policy organization. 
