I am posting a paper that my colleague Michael Middleton and I presented last fall at a conference at George Washington University. The paper provides a systematic analysis of the origins and use of "cyber Pearl Harbor" as an analogy and metaphor by various actors in the U.S. cyber security debate. The full citation and link to the PDF: Sean Lawson and Michael K. Middleton, … [Read more...] about Cyber Pearl Harbor: A 25 Year Retrospective
cyberdoom
DOD: Cyber Pearl Harbor Hasn’t Happened Because We Deterred It
For years, I have been a critic of cyber security advocates' use of doom rhetoric to call attention and motivate a response to cyber threats. Perhaps the chief example of such rhetoric is the cyber Pearl Harbor analogy, which as been used regularly in the U.S. cyber security debate since 1991. One criticism that I and others have made of this analogy is that focussing … [Read more...] about DOD: Cyber Pearl Harbor Hasn’t Happened Because We Deterred It
Cyber Doom is Still the Wrong Rallying Cry for Better Cybersecurity
A recent piece in Fortune exhorts us to act now to improve cybersecurity because cyber doom is coming if we don't. "Cyber" could be as bad or worse than 9/11, Pearl Harbor, or even nukes! With senior defense officials raising alarms about the potential for a “Cyber 9/11†or a “Cyber Pearl Harbor,†however, there is an opportunity to take decisive action now on the … [Read more...] about Cyber Doom is Still the Wrong Rallying Cry for Better Cybersecurity