If “grass roots” Arab hackers are as motivated as their busy Russian counterparts, then Israeli cyber security experts have their work cut out.
Which is why Evgeny Morozov is a must-read. He joined the digital war against Georgia with zero hacking experience and no initial knowledge of how to “enlist.” Why?
I had a much simpler research objective: to test how much damage someone like me, who is quite aloof from the Kremlin physically and politically, could inflict upon Georgia’s Web infrastructure, acting entirely on my own and using only a laptop and an Internet connection.
Turns out that flooding Georgian sites and making your own “e-Molotov cocktail” isn’t so complicated. After shedding light on the hackers’ modus operandi, Morozov’s conclusion is simply chilling:
In less than an hour, I had become an Internet soldier. I didn’t receive any calls from Kremlin operatives; nor did I have to buy a Web server or modify my computer in any significant way. If what I was doing was cyberwarfare, I have some concerns about the number of child soldiers who may just find it too fun and accessible to resist.
