Defence Ministry wants cyber weaponry in addition to defence against attack on data networks

Arto Räty

Erka Koivunen

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Finland is making plans to build the ability to mount cyber attacks as part of its data network defences.
      In order to be able to counter-attack in the case of an aggressive move against the country's own networks, it is necessary to create a credible form of response in the shape of malware, worms or viruses, the Defence Ministry believes.
      "Attack is an unfortunate word, but there can be no defensive capability without the ability to offer a counter-punch. The two things go hand in hand", commented Lt. Gen. Arto Räty, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence. The ministry is currently assembling a national cybersecurity strategy. Räty stressed that the proposals, due to be completed by the end of next year, would have to address the issue of Finland's own cyberweaponry.
     
Erka Koivunen, the Head of CERT-FI, the national Computer Emergency Response Team at the
      Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, notes that the subject of actively building the capability to launch such an attack is not one that is talked about much - "It is a kind of taboo", he says.
      At the same time, Koivunen argues that even a civilian organisation such as the FCRA needs to learn the techniques of attack as well as defence, if for no other reason than to be able to test accurately the strengths and weakness of one's own data network defences.
      In some circumstances, attack is the best means of defence.
     
Whilst it may be sensitive, the issue is a topical one - all major states have taken steps to build an offensive capacity in this department, and in August the chairman of the Social Democrats in Sweden proposed that much the same should be considered there.
      Estonia was the victim of cyber attacks on public offices, banks, and media outlets some years ago in an incident that has been nickamed "Web War One", and the country has been the location for NATO's own Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence since 2008.
      One recent much-reported example of cyber warfare was the Stuxnet worm, which was used very effectively to hamper the uranium enrichment infrastructure of Iran's nuclear programme.
      The involvement of Israel and the United States in the attack has been widely speculated.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Expert: Sweden´s DoS cyber-attack could also happen in Finland, and in fact it already has (30.10.2009)
  Finland to join cyber-defence effort of NATO (11.5.2009)

See also:
  Warfare for a new age (19.10.2010)

Links:
  Wired Magazine: an article on the Estonian cyber attacks from 2007
  Cyberwarfare incidents (Wikipedia)
  CERT-FI

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