Massive Wave of Estonia Cybarmageddon Debunking Begins

I'm thrilled to see that while I was on vacation, the New York Times produced a level-headed followup to its earlier Estonia Cybarmageddon! story, making the Gray Lady the first mainstream media outlet to recognize that Mafiaboy-style DDoS attacks against public web servers is not warfare.

"[M]any in the security community and the news media initially treated the digital attacks against Estonia's computer networks as the coming of a long-anticipated new chapter in the history of conflict – when, in fact, the technologies and techniques used in the attacks were hardly new, nor were they the kind of thing that only a powerful government would have in its digital armamentarium," writes veteran tech reporter John Schwartz.

The main method of attack in Estonia – through what is known as a [distributed] denial of service – doesn't disable computers from within, but simply stacks up so much digital debris at the entryway that legitimate visitors, like bank customers, can't get in.

That is not the same as disabling a computer from the inside, Mr. Lewis stressed. "The idea that Estonia was brought to its knees – that's when we have to stop sniffing glue," he said.

In fact, an attack would have borne real risks for Russia, or any aggressor nation, said Ross Stapleton-Gray, a security consultant in Berkeley, Calif. "The downside consequence of getting caught doing something more could well be a military escalation," he said.

That's too great a risk for a government to want to engage in what amounts to high-tech harassment, Mr. Lewis said. "The Russians are not dumb," he said.

Even if an Internet-based conflict does eventually break out, and the dueling microchips do their worst, it would have a fundamentally different effect from flesh-and-blood fighting, said Andrew MacPherson, research assistant professor of justice studies at the University of New Hampshire. "If you have a porcelain vase and drop it – it's very difficult to put it back together," he said. "A cyberattack, maybe it's more like a sheet that can be torn and it can be sewed back together."

That is why Kevin Poulsen, a writer on security issues at Wired News, said that he had difficulty envisioning the threat that others see from an overseas attack by electrons and photons alone. "They unleash their deadly viruses and then they land on the beaches and sweep across our country without resistance because we're rebooting our P.C.'s?" he asked

This is the turn of the tide – the start of a media self correction tsunami that will eventually reach Slate, Newsday, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and everyone else who bit on the Estonia cyberwar meme. The press is nothing if not vigilant about fixing its mistakes. You just watch.

More from Danger Room, which stole THREAT LEVEL's Estonia blue screen art. We're watching you.

Previously:

Estonia Drops Cyberwar Theory, Claims Packets Were
'Terrorism'

Estonia 'Cyberwar' Wasn't

Estonia DDoS Attacks Make Tech Reporters Into Daring War Correspondents