Dr. Herbert Lin, a cyber security expert and the chief scientist on the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council is co-editor of Technology, Policy, Law, and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities. Recently, he has been quoted in several news articles about the controversial “Flame” virus that has infected computers tied to the oil industry in the Middle East.
In an Omaha World-Herald article on the Flame computer virus, Dr. Lin explains that a lot of what Flame does has been done before — malware is readily available that steals emails, takes screen captures and even activates a computer’s microphone so it can record audio. “We’ve been issuing reports on the risk to the nation for 20 years. … We’ve been saying this stuff forever.”
Technology, Policy, Law and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities, focuses on the use of cyberattack as an instrument of U.S. national policy and explores important characteristics of cyberattack. It describes the current international and domestic legal structure as it might apply to cyberattack, and considers analogies to other domains of conflict to develop relevant insights.
Download the PDF version of Technology, Policy, Law, and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities for free on the NAP website.
To learn more about Cybersecurity check out additional videos and resources from The National Academies, including more titles in our cybersecurity collection.