Catarina's World

Innovation is the name of the game and applies not only to businesses but espionage as well. Gone are the days when 007 was sent to sort out Blofeld. Bond is about to be made redundant and most of his work will be done online. Devote 2 minutes to watching  a cyber security expert explain the workings of espionage program Flame that is targeting governments and businesses in the Middle East:

Iran and Israel/Palestine have been the main targets which have made experts all over the world believe that America and/or Israel is behind it.

The New York Times have looked into Struxnet and Olympic Games (the code name given to it already by the Bush White House) for 18 months. According to their article, Struxnet suddenly started spreading into computers outside the Iranian nuclear plant and the Americans believed the Israelis had done something to enable that. Maybe that was the beginning of Flame? If so, it wouldn't surprise me if the hackers that work for Israel's Unit 8200, that I wrote about in  Cyber Warfare – Hackers to the rescue, were behind it. Maybe it's time to make "hacker" a profession and enable more of them to use their skills in positive ways to protect governments and businesses against this kind of attacks, instead of in destructive ways?

Imagine a virus that can delay exports

Flame not only steals information but is also said to have disrupted oil exports by shutting down Iranian oil terminals. But then again,  Struxnet destroyed some of Iran's nuclear centrifuges. 

What nation state is behind it?

A security official in China was arrested this year for spying for the US. Maybe he handed over the information needed to get Flame into Chinese networks and places of interest?

Can't help wondering if some other nation could be behind Flame? The Chinese government is actually known for their cyber activities and so is Russia and Iran. But according to the above mentioned article in The New York Times, the era of viruses such as Flame started when George W. Bush was president. Having falsely accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction he had no credibility for, again, accusing a country of nuclear ambitions. And the Iranians knew it. So when Bush was presented with the opinion of cyber warfare he found the sophisticated cyber weapon too good to resist. Obama followed suit and in fact speeded up cyber attacks against the Iranians. 

Just read an article in in Foreign Policy Magazine asking if there are US special ops inside North Korea. Maybe to find the information needed to get Flame into places of interest in Pyongyang? If so, in the future Flame and its successors may take care of espionage in North Korea as well. The new cyber spy tool sounds to me not only to be up to the task but able to penetrate where ops cannot thread. 

The beginning of a new era

Seems to me that using viruses like Flame is the way of the future for espionage. Catch is, all nations will follow suit, if they haven't already. And that includes Iran and North Korea. In fact, how long will it take before Iran pays the US and Israel back for Struxnet?  It's essential for all countries in the world to boost their ability to withstand such attacks. And the same applies to businesses who may otherwise have their secrets stolen and their markets taken away. 

Do you believe viruses such as Flame is the way of the future? Should all countries and businesses increase their ability to withstand such attacks?Are the US and/or Israel behind Flame? Will the number of James Bonds in the world be gradually reduced? Catch is the Blofelds of this world neither are, not will be, in decline. Should hacking be made a profession in order to benefit from their skills? Is privacy gradually becoming a thing of the past? Will we all have to get used to a world where everything is seen and heard? If so, will the 007s or Blofelds be the winners? Or maybe the Bond Girls? If so, hopefully the good flames that end up with Bond in the end. The current Flame beats most honey traps, after all.

Video: ReutersTV -YouTube

Sometimes when I read the news it seems like a script to a new James Bond movie. Dr No is at it again with a 300,000 strong cyberarmy whose only purpose is to get into other countries secret networks. And Blofeld, or maybe Goldfinger, is helping countries deceive their citizens as well as an entire continent.

What's 007 up to? Having a martini, shaken not stirred, or fighting Dr No's cyberarmy?

Last year MI5 warned that Dr No is making a huge attempt at hacking into Western companies concentrating on defence, manufacturing, PR and law. They also said that “honeytraps” of beautiful girls were being used occasionally. Apparently it happened to the deputy mayor of London who woke up to find that he had been drugged by a pretty woman who downloaded secret files from his Blackberry while he was knocked out.

Dr No in cyberspace

If you believe the news, Dr No wants to use cyber warfare to destroy vital infrastructure in the West in areas like government, finance, business, military and defence. And the irony is that many of his cyberarmy soldiers have actually been educated at top institutions in the West.

Dr No’s victims so far are said to include Google in January this year and Exxon Mobile who suspect that he has stolen vital information from them. The bad news, according to Wired, is that nobody is immune to this kind of APT attacks. And they seem to happen mainly to companies and countries of interest to Dr No, who deny the allegations.

Blofeld’s evil genius at work

Some Euro countries current economic trouble was kept hidden for a long time with the help of Blofelt who, for a hefty fee, assisted them with sweeping their problems under the carpet to make Europe believe everything was fine. Nothing illegal just questionable from an ethic point of view and very profitable for Blofeld. He was also very active in orchestrating the global recession by all kinds of actions that almost brought down the entire American banking system and not to forget the substantial part he played in bringing AIG to its knees. With the Blofelds of this world it would have been tricky even for James Bond to do anything since they are not breaking the law. But that could be solved by his license to kill.

Where’s 007?

The continuation of the scripts would be M asking Miss Moneypenny to find 007. In his meeting with M Bond would be told everything is at his disposal to fix the problems. And as we know, James Bond always succeeds. No doubt he would have innovative and helpful gadgets from Q that would give him the upper hand, not least, in cyberspace. Can’t help wondering what 007 would need to do to succeed in the current scripts? And who would be the “honeytrap” Bond girl that would change sides to help him out?

Good and plausible scripts for Bond movies, don’t you think? Highlights how thin the line between fiction and reality is. If you believe everything you read in the news, that is. With a long background in media I am aware that not everything you read is true. Many times the negative aspects are blown out of proportion and facts are sometimes simply just invented. But there is at least a grain of truth in these stories.

Fiction is often based on reality but the latest ventures of Blofeld and Dr No, again, proves that it works the other way round as well. Maybe the perpetrators actually got their inspiration from fiction? Maybe I’m not far of when guessing on Dr No and Blofeld?

For your eyes only

Blofeld's actions must, so far at least, have harmed the world more than Dr No has?

Makes you wonder if we live in a real world or life is like a Bond movies, doesn’t it? As long as the Dr Nos and Blofelds of this world are not caught and brought to justice they thrive. But the good news is that after going through a multitude of difficulties 007 always succeeds and end up having a wonderful time with the Bond girl. So let’s hope the real world will play out like that.

Considering the troubles caused by Wikileaks maybe it’s time for intelligence services to, again, revert to “for your eyes ony” dossiers? That way further embarrassment could be prevented.

Begs the question where is James Bond at the moment? Hopefully not with a beautiful “honeytrap” that doesn’t see the error of her ways. Much better that he is speeding in his Aston Martin through the streets of London to attend a meeting with M. Or maybe he is actually recording a new Bond movie based on the above scripts? If so I wonder if the villain will be Dr No or Blofeld? Which one of them has caused most harm? Despite Dr Nos cyberarmy I tend to believe that Blofeld’s schemes have, at least up until now, been more harmful to the world.

Photo: Flickr theringhotel’s photostream +Paul Baack)