back to article NATO defence ministers agree: This cyber business is very serious

NATO ministers have agreed to step up efforts to protect members' cyber networks, but are still unsure whether or not to step in and sort out individual hacks. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a press conference after the first defence ministers' meeting devoted to cyber issues yesterday that attacks were " …

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  1. Tchou
    Happy

    "We agreed that we will continue our discussion at our next meeting in October"

    I'd die out of boredom working there...

    My work place may not be a paradise but at least I have more code to write than meeting to attend.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Worse than that:

      "[...] NATO's cyber defence capability would be up and running by the autumn [...]"

      "[...] continue our discussion at our next meeting in October [...]"

      The really have to increase pace if they want to get it done between October and autumn... Oh wait.

  2. smudge
    Holmes

    Astounding!

    "They come without warning. From anywhere in the world. And they can have devastating consequences."

    F*** me - you've got to be Secretary General of NATO to have insight like that.

    I shall sleep soundly tonight, knowing that men and women of his calibre are protecting me.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Astounding!

      Obligatory:

      http://www.theonion.com/articles/smart-qualified-people-behind-the-scenes-keeping-a,17954/

      P.S. I've been posting here for years and the forum still won't accept markup in my posts.

    2. Scorchio!!
      Thumb Up

      Re: Astounding!

      I've often wondered how they are recruited. At least Al Haig was a former NATO general. At such moments I always remember George Orwell's words:

      People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

      (Allegedly)

      Men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilised, are there to guard and feed them.

      (From his essay on Kipling)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Protect NATO's own systems?

    'Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said .. that attacks were "getting more common, more complex and more dangerous .. They come without warning. From anywhere in the world. And they can have devastating consequences,"

    Why are such defenceless cybersystems connected to the Internet in the first place?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Protect NATO's own systems?

      Because they have to show some usage in their heap of large IPv4 address blocks, those hording bastards!

    2. Scorchio!!
      Thumb Down

      Re: Protect NATO's own systems?

      Oh tell me about it. In the early 1990s Demon Internet's customer and other confidential data used to be kept only on servers that were completely isolated from the net (the main reason why I used them), which is the ultimate firewall though it does not give protection from sneakernet and there is the inevitable problem of how to update security software. In some more complex and older systems there is always the difficulty of that little bit that no one thought of, or somehow became connected by someone for some arcane and now lost or obscured reason.

  4. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Knock, Knock, .... on the Cabinet Office door. Is there anyone virtually smart in there.

    IT is quite important if one has plans that can lead effortlessly?* Otherwise is one condemned to be an abject failure and derisory figure of fun and even pariah if one's delusions of grandeur are violence based

    That report makes one wonder and ponder on the UK's progress, or more likely as be evidenced, the lack of UK progress, in the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA), the Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC), and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure CPNI , which are all totally dependent for success on the intellectual ability/intellectual property portfolio of head honchos in presumably public paid positions of high and mighty office. They certainly have no qualms about voting themselves hundreds of millions and therefore probably also slush billions in funds ...... http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2263366/gbp650m-investment-underlines-importance-of-uk-cyber-security-says-cabinet-office ...... and whenever not effective with a guaranteed positive controlled delivery of outcome and events, dear boy, events, is it just another dreamy quango and massively perpetrated blatant fraud and abuse of national assets and treasure?

    *Yes, I know. It is a bit of a stupid question, but it is one which needs to be constantly asked to have its answered with a cogent and truthful response. After all, you are are paying for IT dearly, dearie, and if you can't control cyberspace then you have no possible grip on reality at all.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Every time I read the word Cyber in relation to the internet and networks (that aren't in a sci-fi novel) I want to punch someone in the face.

    1. Tchou
      Headmaster

      Cyber...

      Comes from the Greek "kubernân" - to rule...

      so... a Cyber threat would be a "threat that rules".

      It nearly can make some sense, if you're drunk enough.

      1. Scorchio!!
        Thumb Up

        Re: Cyber...

        Thank you to both you and the OP... ...always remembering of course the Sci-fi origins of the term, but it does piss me off intensely, especially when I hear BBC drones coming out with lines about 'getting lost in cyberspace'; FFS, the conflation of two science fiction themes lacking only a faux robot screeching "warning, warning".

        I want my licence fee back now!

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