NATO's new purpose - fighting Skynet

[mr friendly guy]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-t ... 6388679008

ADVANCES in cyber war technologies could soon lead to a new generation of so-called "intelligent cyber weapons" which top global IT defence experts warn could be virtually unstoppable.
"Rapid developments in cyber (technology) might lead to intelligent cyber weapons that are hard to control and it's practically impossible to use formal methods of verifying the safety of intelligent cyber weapons by their users," said IT expert at Tallinn's NATO Cyber Defence Centre, Enn Tyugu, at its fourth annual conference.

He also warned that programmes developed to counter attacks by malwares like Stuxnet can act independently and could possibly themselves spark conflicts.
"They are quite autonomous, and can operate independently in an unfriendly environment and might at some point become very difficult to control... that can lead to cyber conflict initiated by these agents themselves," Mr Tyugu said.

"Stuxnet and Flame have shown the side of cyber of which the average user does not think of but which will bring a lot of challenges to all experts who deal with critical infrastructure protection issues - IT experts, lawyers, policy makers,'' said Head of the NATO Cyber Defence Centre, Ilmar Tamm,.
"The number of cyber conflicts keeps rising and it is important to understand who the actors in these events are, how to classify these events and participants, and how to interpret all that," Mr Tamm said, noting Western leaders have been slow to become aware of even existing cyber threats.

Experts at the conference noted that both China and Russia have significantly upgraded their cyber-defence capabilities in recent years by creating new IT units.
"But the most powerful weapon today in cyber space is still the propaganda, the chance to use the Internet to spread your message," US cyber defence expert, Kenneth Geers, told some 400 top IT gurus attending the meeting.
Head of Oxford University's Conflict Studies Research Centre, Keir Giles, noted that some Russian leaders seemed to "sincerely believe that the recent opposition rallies after the presidential elections in Russia were initiated by the US in cyberspace."

[madd0ct0r]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-t ... 6388679008

Head of Oxford University's Conflict Studies Research Centre, Keir Giles, noted that some Russian leaders seemed to "sincerely believe that the recent opposition rallies after the presidential elections in Russia were initiated by the US in cyberspace."

wether they were or not, it was still the Russian people feeling strongly enough to march in the streets.

I also like the idea that anti-stuxnet programs are as dangerous as the blinking virus itself.

[PeZook]

Well, ULTIMATELY the conflicts sparked by a runaway computer virus will also happen because of paranoia and predisposition towards violence, rather than the virus deliberately and maliciously manipulating decision-makers into war ; and will be fought with plain old shooty and explodey weapons. That doesn't mean the guy's not right. He's not envisioning Terminators going rogue, after all.

[mr friendly guy]

Well, ULTIMATELY the conflicts sparked by a runaway computer virus will also happen because of paranoia and predisposition towards violence, rather than the virus deliberately and maliciously manipulating decision-makers into war ; and will be fought with plain old shooty and explodey weapons. That doesn't mean the guy's not right. He's not envisioning Terminators going rogue, after all.

Didn't Skynet start the way by tricking humans to nuke each other. The Terminators came later.

[PeZook]

No, Skynet was given control of US nuclear triad and just launched the nukes. It's as much trickery as "tricking" a guy into attacking you by punching him in the face

[NecronLord]

I'm not sure where this thread is going; am I meant to be laughing at the 'intelligent cyber weapons' phrase; because intelligent behviour doesn't equal self-awareness, and AI, specifically, in a computer context, doesn't denote self-awareness. Stuxnet does display several sophisticated behaviours that could reasonably be called 'intelligent.'

[Spoonist]

I think it's more ironic that those examples are examples of NATO member's code.

[mr friendly guy]

I'm not sure where this thread is going; am I meant to be laughing at the 'intelligent cyber weapons' phrase; because intelligent behviour doesn't equal self-awareness, and AI, specifically, in a computer context, doesn't denote self-awareness. Stuxnet does display several sophisticated behaviours that could reasonably be called 'intelligent.'

The link used Terminator pictures, so I went with the joke. After all Skynet is intelligent enough to nuke a country prompting retaliation, leading humans being weaker.