Analyst’s Talk of Cyberwar Arms Race: Questionable

Computing has become such a massive part of our lives, in both work and liesure, that forecasts of cyberwarfare seem logical enough. But the assertions by one analyst that the US needs to begin a computer arms race with China are now being questioned. Ars Technica did the due diligance and looked into these widely-reported claims from Technolytics Institute security expert Kevin G. Coleman and turned misleading information on several key points. The big one? Coleman warned of China’s new impenetrable server operating system, called Kylin, suggesting that the US’s own cyberattacks would not be affective against it. As Ars points out, Kylin a FreeBSD derivative whose security features resemble average commercial Linux distribution. Coleman also suggests that hardware from overseas could turn malicious if the US doesn’t properly monitor it, when actually, a program to do just that is already underway. It seems Coleman is trying to peddle his company’s own studies, but would you want to work with someone whose information can’t be trusted? [via Ars Technica]