Cyberwarfare is in the air and it is frightening

Cyberwar is a trending topic. I just Googled "cyberwar caution" and got 604 news links and 2.6 million Web links. Here are a few examples:

• Recommendation to elevate cyber warfare to combatant command status
• Drones
• US and Israel's role in Stuxnet
• DARPA's $110 million Plan X research program
• Autonomous robots
• Caution from security entreprenuer and expert Eugene Kaspersky
• Christopher Mims on Obama's naivette

I understand why people feel we have to transition our cyberwar effort from defense to offense (combatant command) and I also understand why others urge caution.

We have been fighting the spread of capital intensive nuclear arms that require large, visible facilities and tests for seventy years, with mixed results. How quickly will relatively cheap cyber weapons spread? What nation will not be able to afford them?

I have no bright ideas on this topic, only a sad feeling. When I was a graduate student, I was in the research directorate of the Systems Development Corporation and my work was funded by ARPA, but posters like the one shown here were all over the building.

What posters will be on the walls at Plan X sites?