Georgia hacking stirs fears of cyber militias

By Andrew Gray - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks that hit Georgian Web sites after Russian tanks rolled across the border have U.S. officials concerned that independent "cyber militias" will play a growing role on the electronic battlefield.

Despite the massive publicity they received, the attacks that brought down or defaced government and media sites were not sophisticated and had virtually no impact on the overall conflict, according to experts.

The attacks overwhelmed the Georgian sites with traffic, causing them to crash or work only sporadically, and seem to have originated in Russia, according to U.S. analysts.

Georgia accused Moscow of staging the attacks as part of a war plan, but the attacks more likely were the work of "hacktivists" -- politically motivated hackers, experts said.

Instead of heaving a sigh of relief at the apparent lack of official Russian involvement, U.S. government officials and experts are on edge, worried that groups with little or no connection to any state can assert such influence.

"In future warfare, governments aren't going to be the only ones waging war," said a senior U.S. military official.

Militaries have conducted electronic warfare for decades, such as jamming communications, so attacks on computer systems alongside a conventional conflict are not new. But those operations are normally carried out by nation-states.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested the Georgia attacks could signal that "paramilitary or militia-like organizations start to come back into the fray."

That fear is particularly great for the United States and other Western nations because so much of modern life is potentially vulnerable to attack from cyberspace -- power grids, banking systems, air traffic and telecommunications.

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Cyberattacks are an especially effective weapon for small groups because the technology required is cheap and easy to get -- sometimes just a computer and an Internet connection.

"It's a great level playing field," said Jose Nazario, senior technology researcher at Arbor Networks, a technology security company.

"A gang can compete against the state," he said. "Sometimes they can win."

Far more serious attacks than those that hit Georgia take place regularly but get far less attention. Many have a far more subtle aim than crashing a Web site or causing a catastrophic system failure -- they are used for spying.

The Pentagon, the German chancellor's office and the U.S. defense consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton have been among the high-profile targets of attacks to gather sensitive information or probe system vulnerabilities.