A US Air Force officer says that America should build a military botnet and go on the offensive, so the system acts as a deterrent against future attacks. Who would be attacked? According to the BBC, “he argues that if a computer owner has failed to use anti-virus software and install the latest security patches, that machine may be a legitimate military target.” Wow. So not having anti-virus software makes it okay for the military to attack any computer? Why stop there? Why not just blow the thing up, if it is indeed a “legitimate military target”? If these are the sorts of strategies that the military sees for cybersecurity — which the officer has called “carpet bombing in cyberspace” — perhaps we’d be better off with somebody else heading up the efforts.

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