Should we fire the first shot in a cyberwar?

December 14, 2011 | Source: Technology Review

Military bureaucracies around the world are likely to see offensive capabilities as increasingly attractive in any cyberwar, suggests  Herbert Lin, chief scientist at the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board at the National Research Council.

“Offensive cybertechnology and operations are inherently stronger than defensive operations — that is, offense beats defense in cyberspace, in most cases, and given enough time,” says Lin, who spoke last week at an MIT workshop on the fast-emerging cyber dimension to international relations.