We’re moving into a “new era” where a number of countries have significant cyber weapons, President Obama told reporters at the G-20 international summit in China.
But the US has “more capacity than anybody, both offensively and defensively,” he said.
If we don’t all start acting responsibly with those weapons, the cyber arms race could turn into a free-for-all, said the POTUS:
We’re going to have enough problems in the cyber space with non-state actors who are engaging in theft and using the internet for all kinds of illicit practices.
[We] cannot have a situation where this becomes the Wild Wild West, where countries [that] have significant cyber capacity start engaging in… unhealthy competition or conflict through these means.
His remarks come as US intelligence and law enforcement agencies investigate what they believe is a broad covert operation in the US.
The Washington Post reports that Russia is aiming to tinker with political computer systems, enabling it to spread disinformation and sow public distrust in November’s presidential election and in US political institutions.
One such incident was the recent breach of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) which led to a political firestorm.
In July, just days before the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 emails that, it said, came from the accounts of top DNC officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week denied knowing anything about it:
Does it even matter who hacked this data? The important thing is the content that was given to the public.
There’s no need to distract the public’s attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected with the search for who did it. But I want to tell you again, I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level, Russia has never done this.
A month prior, Russian cyberspies were blamed for having stolen the DNC’s opposition research on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In his address to reporters at G-20, Obama put out a call to institute “some norms” so that “everybody’s acting responsibly.”
Here’s the full clip with his remarks:
President Obama says he doesn’t want “arms race” in cyberspace after #G20 talks with Putin https://t.co/EYmHTvbi73 pic.twitter.com/5iUxbWYi1w
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) September 5, 2016
Alex Jacobson
Yeah, this is just great Obama, isn’t it? For years security experts like Bruce Schneier told you that “Today’s NSA secrets become tomorrow’s PhD theses and the next day’s hacker tools.” And that cyber attacks harm high tech societies much more than comparably lower tech adversaries. And if the NSA was using its vast capabilities to aid in fixing vulnerabilities as opposed to keeping them secret and have them stolen and exploited for years by those adversaries (Shadow Broker) we hardly wouldn’t be facing this mess. The hubris of the Five Eyes created this nightmare and did nothing to fix it, don’t blame this on anyone else.
Wilderness
Earth to Obama: it’s already like that now and has been for years. How much fail can one person fit into 8 years? I think he’s going to set a new record.
Dan
Next, he will be saying he created the Internet and its his but wait Al Gore claimed that right?
Mahhn
While he’s talking Wild West, he’s playing it at home with the Dakota’s screwing over the Indians. And Putin is right about the Emails. It’s normal for criminal politicians to complain about being exposed than to be prosecuted for their actions. It’s a F’d up world.
Scott
We may as well give away oversight while we’re at it.
martinfromOz
When it was revealed that European Government was hacked (Merkel’s phone and more) Obama proudly stated that the world had to accept that NSA (A trillion dollar state sponsored spy agency) was the best. At that time he officially condoned this activity but as it looks only for the USA. In the same way that the USA seems to be able to threaten/blackmail it’s “Partners” into attacking via proxy it’s “perceived” opponents. Then when those opponents show the get ready to defend their interests they are labelled the aggressors,
Rafael Hart (@rafael_hart)
I think the ‘wild wild west’ analogy is a fairly accurate description of what we currently have, not what we might have.
Guy
One rule for the rich, one rule for the poor.
Seems like Obama doesn’t like getting back what he’s been dishing out.
Ashad Ahmed
This is a classical approach of US to first create a huge mess, by destroying their counterparts (who are often classified as their allies) and when they start getting affected by such mess, then come forward and try to play as a saviour. Let it be their ‘so called’ war on terror, ongoing war in syria, sucking the talent pool of other countries, abusing the banking systems, smashing the stock markets, controlling the electronic and social media, doing the damn surveillance (and going every possible extent to grab the whistle-blowers) and the list goes on.
But you no what, somethings can’t be reversed – and this NSA and Five eyes things can do as much “offence and defense” as they can, but will never be able to control and dictate the damn internet !
Mahhn
The Banking system is not part of the US Gov. There are 5 families that own the “Federal Reserve” that is in all but a hand full of countries on earth. These are not government operated or owned. If you want to see who the real world rulers are, this is your tip.
R D
The question of note is: how do we solve this problem? Can the Internet be saved, or is it permanently in the hands of thieves and other criminals?
Bryan
With the general population exhibiting security deficit left and right (har), bureaucrats of all slants** are no different, wildly ignorant of IT as a broad subject with a glaring security-specific dearth of awareness. Were that not true, we (i.e. at least in the US) would not have seen forced memorization of the “mother’s maiden name” and “3rd grade teacher” weak password armada–sold to us as security enhancements, yet contrarily offering shoulder-surfable windows into our collective bank account. Bolster that vault with a screen door, I say! Promptly; it’s URGENT! Maybe with rhinestones on the handle…
With few exceptions, many politicians Tweet vicariously through staff and use robust passwords on the order of “PowerTie” (Owen Smith recently illustrated both characteristics). It’s abundantly unsurprising to see a politico betray a “behind the curve” level of comprehension, irrespective of whether viewed from the left or right.
** (aren’t they all, really?)
Anonymous
I’m sorry but “Wild West” ha, umm todays cyber world is move like living in the 70’s or the 80’s. Growing up the “Wild West” would have been BBS’s IRC, AIM and other types of communication.. Its just more news coverage about it now and the attacks have gotten bigger. I would say its more like “The Cold War”….
Andrew Miller
We all know from the start that the new wild wild west would be virtual, but there is no real way of controlling it unlike the West of olden times.