[Infowarrior] - U.S. and Russia Open Talks on Limits to War in Cyberspace

[Richard Forno]

December 13, 2009
U.S. and Russia Open Talks on Limits to War in Cyberspace
By JOHN MARKOFF and ANDREW E. KRAMER
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/science/13cyber.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

The United States has begun talks with Russia and a United Nations  
arms control committee about strengthening Internet security and  
limiting military use of cyberspace.

American and Russian officials have different interpretations of the  
talks so far, but the mere fact that the United States is  
participating represents a significant policy shift after years of  
rejecting Russia’s overtures. Officials familiar with the talks said  
the Obama administration realized that more nations were developing  
cyberweapons and that a new approach was needed to blunt an  
international arms race.

In the last two years, Internet-based attacks on government and  
corporate computer systems have multiplied to thousands a day.  
Hackers, usually never identified, have compromised Pentagon  
computers, stolen industrial secrets and temporarily jammed government  
and corporate Web sites. President Obama ordered a review of the  
nation’s Internet security in February and is preparing to name an  
official to coordinate national policy.

On Nov. 12, a delegation led by Gen. Vladislav P. Sherstyuk, a deputy  
secretary of the Russian Security Council and the former leader of the  
Russian equivalent of the National Security Agency, flew to Washington  
and met with representatives from the National Security Council, State  
Department, Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland  
Security. Officials familiar with these talks said the two sides made  
progress in bridging divisions that had long separated the countries.

Indeed, two weeks later in Geneva, the United States agreed to discuss  
cyberwarfare and cybersecurity with representatives of the United  
Nations committee on disarmament and international security. The  
United States had previously insisted on addressing those matters in  
the committee on economic issues.

The Russians have held that the increasing challenges posed by  
military activities to civilian computer networks can be best dealt  
with by an international treaty, similar to treaties that have limited  
the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The United  
States had resisted, arguing that it was impossible to draw a line  
between the commercial and military uses of software and hardware.

Now there is a thaw, said people familiar with the discussions.

“In the last months there are more signs of building better  
cooperation between the U.S. and Russia,” said Veni Markovski, a  
Washington-based adviser to Bulgaria’s Internet security chief and  
representative to Russia for the organization that assigns Internet  
domain names. “These are signs that show the dangers of cybercrime are  
too big to be neglected.”

Viktor V. Sokolov, deputy director of the Institute of Information  
Security in Moscow, a policy research group run by General Sherstyuk,  
said the Russian view was that the American position on Internet  
security had shifted perceptibly in recent months.

“There is movement,” he said. Before, bilateral negotiations were  
limited to the relevant Russian police agency, the Bureau of Special  
Technical Operations, the Internet division of the Ministry of  
Interior, and the F.B.I.

Mr. Sokolov characterized this new round of discussions as the opening  
of negotiations between Russia and the United States on a possible  
disarmament treaty for cyberspace, something Russia has long sought  
but the United States has resisted.

“The talks took place in a good atmosphere,” he said. “And they agreed  
to continue this process. There are positive movements.”

A State Department official, who was not authorized to speak about the  
talks and requested anonymity, disputed the Russian characterization  
of the American position. While the Russians have continued to focus  
on treaties that may restrict weapons development, the United States  
is hoping to use the talks to increase international cooperation in  
opposing Internet crime. Strengthening defenses against Internet  
criminals would also strengthen defenses against any military-directed  
cyberattacks, the United States maintains.

An administration official said the United States was seeking common  
ground with the Russians.

The United Nations discussions are scheduled to resume in New York in  
January, and the two countries also plan to talk at an annual Russia- 
sponsored Internet security conference in Garmisch, Germany.

The American interest in reopening discussions shows that the Obama  
administration, even in absence of a designated Internet security  
chief, is breaking with the Bush administration, which had declined to  
talk with Russia about issues related to military attacks using the  
Internet.

Many countries, including the United States, are developing weapons  
for use on computer networks that are ever more integral to the  
operations of everything from banks to electrical power systems to  
government offices. They include “logic bombs” that can be hidden in  
computers to halt them at crucial times or damage circuitry; “botnets”  
that can disable or spy on Web sites and networks; or microwave  
radiation devices that can burn out computer circuits miles away.

The Russians have focused on three related issues, according to  
American officials involved in the talks that are part of a broader  
thaw in American-Russian relations known as the "reset" that also  
include negotiations on a new nuclear disarmament treaty. In addition  
to continuing efforts to ban offensive cyberweapons, they have  
insisted on what they describe as an issue of sovereignty calling for  
a ban on “cyberterrorism.” American officials view the issue  
differently and describe this as a Russian effort to restrict  
“politically destabilizing speech.” The Russians have also rejected a  
portion of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime that they  
assert violates their Constitution by permitting foreign law  
enforcement agencies to conduct Internet searches inside Russian  
borders.

In late October at a luncheon during a meeting on Security and Counter  
Terrorism at Moscow State University, General Sherstyuk told a group  
of American executives that the Russians would never sign the European  
Cybercrime Treaty as long as it contained the language permitting  
cross-border searches.