International Cyber Terrorism

proactive cyber defense 2004-2008. Now most of the discussions around proactive
defense in the literature are much less "proactive" than the earlier discussions in 1994
or existing operational programs. 'Proactive' is often used to hype marketing of security
products or programs, in much the same way that "extreme" or "quality" adjectives have
been misused. [1]
The hype-cycle of discussion reached its peak in 1994. Present-day proactive cyber
defense strategy was conceived within the context of the rich discussion that preceded
it, existing doctrine and real proactive cyber defense programs that have evolved
globally over the past decade. Dr. Robert John Garigue, a computational epistemologist
and father of information warfare in Canada, published Information Warfare, Developing
a Conceptual Framework. This was a landmark document in 1994 and genesis for
proactive cyber defensive theory in Canada.
Founding members of the interdepartmental committee on Information Warfare (Canada
1994), Dr. Robert Garigue and Dave McMahon wrote: Strategic listening, core
intelligence and a proactive defense provide time and precision. Conversely, reacting in
surprise is ineffective, costly and leaves few options. Strategic deterrence needs a
credible offensive, proactive defense and information peacekeeping capability in which
to project power and influence globally through Cyberspace in the defense of the nation.
Similarly, Deterrence and diplomacy are required in the right dosage to dissuade
purposeful interference with the national critical cyber infrastructures in influence in the
democratic process by foreign states.
Vulnerabilities Equities
Intelligence agencies such as the NSA were criticized for buying up and
stockpiling zero-day vulnerabilities, keeping them secret and developing
mainly offensive capabilities instead of defensive measures and helping patch
vulnerabilities.
This criticism was widely reiterated and recognized after the May 2017 WannaCry
ransomware attack.
In a March 9 press release on the Vault 7 documents WikiLeaks released 2 days
earlier, Julian Assange states that much of the leak's remainder included unpatched
vulnerabilities and that he was working with IT companies such
as Microsoft and Google to get these vulnerabilities patched as he would not release
information which would put the public at risk, and as fixes were released by
manufacturers he would release details of vulnerabilities.
Proactive Pre-Emptive Operations
Effective cyber defenses ideally prevent an incident from taking place. Any other
approach is simply reactive. FedCIRC, the NIPC, the NSIRC, the Department of
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