From: FCW
By Amber Corrin
2012 was an eventful year in the world of cybersecurity, to say the least. High-profile cyberattacks, multiple failed attempts to pass legislation, and the continuing buildup of the U.S. Cyber Command and military cyber capabilities are just a few of 2012’s most important cyber-related events.
Experts and insiders almost unanimously pointed to a handful of prominent attacks around the world as defining moments in the year’s cyber landscape. The Shamoon virus unleashed on Saudi Arabia’s state oil company destroyed 30,000 computers, an unprecedented occurrence in cyber warfare. Before that, the release of New York Times reporter David Sanger’s book “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power” unveiled the United States’ involvement in the development and release of Stuxnet — itself a crucial affair with reverberations far beyond the confines of cyberspace.
“With the publication of this book, you essentially had a play-by-play of how this went from idea to effect,” said Richard Bejtlich, chief security officer at Mandiant. “It revealed how having a piece of code [could] not just disrupt a computer or steal information but actually have a physical effect to destroy machinery and while doing so have a major international relations event. Now that we know, more or less, that the U.S. and its ally Israel were involved in creating Stuxnet, other countries have a tool they can use when discussing cybersecurity relations with the U.S.”
Meanwhile, the cybersecurity discussion continued to churn. On Capitol Hill, ongoing battles over the best way to legislate cybersecurity resulted in gridlock. An executive order came to be seen as the best short-term solution, but nobody believed it was a good substitute for comprehensive legislation, and the battle in Congress is certain to resume in 2013.
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