Russian Hackers Stole U.S. Identities in War Against Georgia

According to the Wall Street Journal, Russian hackers hijacked American identities and U.S. software tools and used them in an attack on Georgian government Web sites during the war between Russia and Georgia last year. The U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, an independent nonprofit research institute that assesses the impact of cyber attacks, is releasing a study today that highlights these dramatic findings.

The report also shows that hackers collaborated on popular U.S.-based social-networking sites, including Twitter and Facebook Inc., to coordinate attacks on Georgian sites. This report clearly shows that cyber-warfare has outpaced military agreements, as well as how American resources and civilian technology can be used as weapons. The cyberattacks that occured in August 2008 significantly shut down Georgia’s communications capabilities, as well as 20-plus Web sites for more than a week.

This report show has cyber-warfare is the new frontier and how civilian technologies can be used. Perhaps the U.S. should shore up its cybersecurity efforts? Oh, wait…that’s right, things are stalling a bit on that front.