Cipher Issue 112, January 21, 2013, Editor's Letter

Dear Readers,

Highlighting the importance of cybersecurity in national defense, the US National Security Agency announced last month that it was sponsoring an award for the best security paper of the past year. The nomination period ends very soon, so please consider nominating your favorite stellar author immediately.

Richard Austin reviews a book this month with a topic that would have seemed out-of-scope 30 years ago, when hacking computer accounts was a form of silly hubris. Today it is the stuff of international espionage, and intelligence analysts need to carefully dissect and evaluate the actors and threats to national security. Read all about it through this review and the book itself.

Our news items this month underscore the global nature of cybersystem attacks, their sophistication, targets, and stealth. Now that health care is becoming just another cloud-based data application, can we expect widespread attacks, data theft or even alteration? Some researchers have reason to expect the worst.

Sun Tzu, inventor of the honeypot: "Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him",

      Hilarie Orman