The Smell of Blood in the Water.....

Its been a while since my last post so I wanted to give a very brief summary of the current state of affairs (this is by no means exhaustive…) Lets just say that 2011 will go down in history as the year that our perceived security was stripped away.

EMC’s RSA division was breached and soon afterward so were some of its customers.

The world’s largest anti-virus companies have been taken to task for selling snake oil (also known as anti-virus software). Local police departments all over were unable to protect their own officers’ personal and confidential information

The FBI’s Infraguard program was repeatedly hacked. DARPA and NSA have recently both agreed that after many years of trying they’ve failed to come up with a security model that works in light of recent infiltrations...

We are entering 2012 more vulnerable than ever before because our security relied upon the "perception” that those charged with our security, both public and private, could do the job. Well, reality has stripped that misconception away which gives rise to opportunity.

Conversely, over 28 nations and counting are developing offensive cyber capabilities, and the really malicious actors of the world like drug cartels and extremist groups (both domestic and foreign) are rapidly learning what’s possible vis-a-vie attacks through cyberspace. In other words, those with the means to act are growing quickly.
 
Finally, the anger and frustration of the expanding "Occupy movement" combined with the onset of hate-fueled politics that accompanies a Presidential election year - especially against this President - will engender widespread motivation for people to take action. With means, motive, and opportunity solidly represented,  I expect 2012 will produce more cyber attacks against U.S. targets which will result in serious harm if not loss of life. Once there's blood in the water, you can expect more will quickly follow.

The very worst part of this prediction is that its inevitable.  CEOs typically refuse to act to protect their own companies if it cuts into profit. The U.S. government has challenges to do what’s necessary to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure because it's 90% privately owned, and our laws and system of government has enabled this massive malfeasance so that everyone responsible can claim absence of malice.

In the words of Upton Sinclair and the movie based upon his book Oil! - "there will be blood". It's just a matter of time.