On the Use of Offensive Cyber Capabilities - Belfer Center for ...

careful decisions regarding: declassification, operational impacts of informationsharing, the avoidance of any sort of market distorting impact (such asestablishing favored organizations), and the adverse potential for forming adependency in U.S. network operators who may perceive a governmentcertification as a guarantee of security.Beyond the potential privacy concerns there are few domestic political orpublic concerns that seem likely to be raised by scanning.InternationalGiven the high level of scanning going on by criminal and other actors itseems unlikely that foreign governments would raise concern regardingscanning. It seems likely that such activity is already being conducted at a highvolume by state intelligence services, so it is hard to imagine substantialinternational consequences to scanning.Soft PowerThe principle soft power consideration is similar to the domesticconsiderations concerning a perceived infringement on privacy, and a resultingloss of esteem for the United States. But again, the high amount of scanningactivity already being conducted, and without much notice, suggests that itwould both be easy to mask any government scanning and there would not besevere concern if it became known. Indeed there is already such a perception ofpowerful U.S. surveillance capabilities in much of the world; it is hard to see asubstantial shift caused by external scanning efforts.SystemicMore scanning for security vulnerabilities is likely to have a positivesystemic effect on the internet, making it more secure in general. As more47