NATO says cyberwar as dangerous as the real thing

NATO's cyber-defence chief has warned that computer-based terrorism poses the same threat to national security as a missile attack.

Suleyman Anil, head of NATO's Computer Incident Response Capability Co-ordination Centre, said a determined cyberattack on a country's online infrastructure would be "practically impossible to stop".

Nations need to focus on improving their ability to quickly recover and get systems back online, an area in which nearly all countries were currently "weak", Anil told delegates at the e-Crime Congress 2008 in London.

Anil said the cyberattacks on Estonia last year, which brought down key financial and state systems, had demonstrated how cyber-terrorism could take down national infrastructure with "very serious consequences".

"The cyberattack on Estonia last year was particularly interesting as it underlined a lot of the complacency that various groups had about potential for something like that to happen," said James Turner, security advisor at research firm IBRS.

"The thing about it was that it was just one 20 year old acting by himself; there was no ideological motive behind it, so it wasn't a terrorist attack per se, but it did illustrate clearly the potential harm that could be done."

"However, if you consider the long term repercussions [of cyberterrorism], as in having your communications infrastructure crippled, it would have a drastic effect on the country; so bombs going off may be dramatic, a cyberattack could put lives at stake as well," he added.

NATO will set out an action plan for dealing with a similar infrastructure attack on one of its members at a state summit in Bucharest next month.

Anil believes the threat will continue to grow as terrorist groups become aware of the potential to cause maximum damage at minimal cost.

According to Anil, cyberwar could become a very effective strategy because it is low-risk, low-cost, highly effective and easily globally deployable. It is almost an ideal weapon that nobody can ignore.

Anil said attacks were becoming increasingly sophisticated, giving an example of a semi-autonomous Trojan which infiltrated NATO's open network.

He said the Trojan was scanning networks for statements on a certain underground project and then trying to implant itself on any network that mentioned it.

NATO's weapons of choice for defence purposes are off-the-shelf virus scanners, intrusion-prevention technology and forensic software, Anil continued.

Countries also need to resolve issues of law enforcement across national boundaries and the technical challenges of tackling the spread of cybercrime, Anil added.

"The implications are definitely there for Australia because we're a broad country and heavily dependent on communications technologies, that's why the government set up operations like the Trusted Information Sharing Network and GovCert," said IBRS' Turner.

ZDNet.com.au's Marcus Browne contributed to this report.