Jane's Intelligence Review Lauds Slashdot Readers as Cyberterrorism Experts

Last week the editors of the internationally respected magazine, Jane's Intelligence Review, asked Slashdot readers to preview an article on Cyberterrorism they had planned to run. But so many of you said (rightfully) that the article was lame, and so many of you had intelligent things to say on the subject, that the Jane's editors decided to trash the original piece and write a whole new one based entirely on your comments! And, in an unprecedented act of generosity, Jane's is going to *pay* those of you whose words make it into the final story, which is being written by Deputy Editor Johan J Ingles-le Nobel. Please click on the "Read More" link below to get the whole scoop directly from Jane's - including info on how to collect your money if you are one of the folks Jane's decides to quote.

Open source meets open source

What happens when you throw together open source intelligence (intelligence from non-classified sources) and the online open source movement? Jane's Intelligence Review (JIR), a leading specialist security analysis did just this, and the results were an eye-opener for all parties concerned. Writes Johan J Ingles-le Nobel, JIR Deputy Editor:

When you're confronted with a prospective article about cyberterrorism, as a journalist you know this is a massive emerging topic and that it will make a great story. After all, you've got to be both blind and deaf to have missed the unprecedented emergence of this thing known as the Internet, and that the day will come when, like anything else, it comes to be seen as a tool in the armoury of those that seek to harm and terrorise. Yet the very nature and vocabulary of the subject precludes a thorough understanding unless you're a programmer in the first place. Buffer overflows, denial of service, CGI, 128 bit encryption - such words are all anathma to the layman, yet crucial to a good article on the issue.

"JIR's choice at this point, upon receiving the article, was tough. It's great to get copy from someone you know to be very good on terrorism on this subject, but upon reading the article left me with more questions than answers - and questions that only qualified people could answer properly. I'm not referring to shallow 'such and so defaced a website' type of answers, but thoughtful responses metered with specialist knowledge. So what better way to find answers than to go online, to seek out expertise on the subject?

Unfortunately, finding good information online is not nearly as easy as it should be. Thankfully, months earlier I'd noticed a link to Slashdot posted on a web-hosting service owned by a friend of mine, and having followed the link, bookmarked it a long time ago. Thus, upon receiving the article and personally researching cyberterrorism to find out a bit more on the subject and having been alerted to the fact that a) Linux is the best 'programmer's' o/s environment, b) many webservers use Linux and c) you're looking at expertise in both these areas for sensible answers, there was really no choice but to ask the guys that actually do this stuff for advice.

In retrospect, I'm delighted that I did. 250+ comments and 35 emails from psychologists to network analysts, and from Sun engineers to Cambridge Dons later, The responses have been insightful and knowledgable, with many excellent points made. I've even had a lot of 'thank-you' type letters from computer security professionals for trying this approach. Of course, when you ask for feedback you get feedback - and since roughly 99% of the posters slammed the article, even saying things like 'we'd expect better from Jane's', I've informed the author that we're not going to run with it. Instead I'm going to cull your comments together and make a better, sharper feature out of it - I'll be getting in touch with several of you for more specific details or for more clarification. The article will thus go into December issue (published middle of November), I'll arrange to have it put onto the free section of the Jane's Intelligence Review website (yes, you do all get to see it, of course), and if you find your comments included, contact me at [e-mail] for payment at our usual lineage rates (yes, of course you get paid - after all, we are gentlemen).

In summary: wherever you may be and whatever you may do, a big 'thanks, guys' comes your way from just south of London, England.

Johan J Ingles-le Nobel,
[e-mail],
Jane's Intelligence Review.