If only someone wrote some sort of software to protect against this huge, terrifying, costly and very real (yes-it-is, yes-it-is, la-la-la, I'm-not-listening) threat.

Best approach, set up a honeypot. A relatively insecure system (not so much that it is obvious) and load it up with bogus intelligence. Something that makes one of Chinas own agents look like a traitor, or make it look like one of their allies is about to double cross them.

Sowing the seeds of distrust between your enemies could work nicely

"Western governments have pointed the finger of blame for targeted Trojan attacks towards China, which has denied any involvement in the assaults."

Can you imagine the processing a Westerner would need to do, to effectively target the Chinese with a sophisticated, stealthy phish? How perfect do you think their Mandarin would be? Which does make it difficult to believe, beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt, their ultimate responsibility, even should there be some involvement.

Probably they'd have to outsource the work to a Westerner ...although it could also be a crazy self-harm type act to throw suspicion upon them, as they surge ahead in their development, unhindered by the Western/foreign language honey trap sites.

Would that render them, or their leaderships, as being more intelligent/worldly wise/aware/progressive?

Reg, where can I find software to protect me from this huge threat to my company's security?

What's that you say, McAffe make some software to fit the bill?

McAffe please put any number you like on this cheque and I will sign it!

I think McAfee is probably more interested in the Pork barrel than the Honeypot.

What have you done with the real amanfromMars?

isn't it *peculiar* how it's always Symantec or Mcaffee telling us about this deadly threat and how we should buy *someone's* product to protect us...

..unfortunately both Symantec and Mcafee's products offer about as much protection as a burst condom. Over-priced over-branded obsolete rubbish that sells because it's next to the Mars Bars in PC World or gets shoved on the OEM's preloaded installations

Don't worry; if you read what he said carefully you'll realise it still doesn't make any sense.

No! We like the new algorithm! Its comments, while still utter nonsense, are at least readable. And it's more fun to watch people try to carry on conversations with it this way!

with amanfrommars. i dont know how many of the chinese population are logging on to amazon and ebay to buy bargain products for their xmas shopping... how many of them really have a bank account, let alone online banking or an internet connection at home. me thinks only people in shanghai and the big cities do (probably in the minority too) and they dont need to order online, they just go down to their local humongous mall to get all the electronics and counterfeit products they need...

and anyway, i hear the russian govt were behind the estonian attacks because they had removed some communist statue (lenin/stalin?) from the town center and it angered radical fascists (or so they claim that as the reason... probably just waiting for the opportune moment more like)...

The statue was a memorial to the all of the Russian soldiers who died while driving the Nazis from the area during WWII. It was moved from the Capital to a nearby military cemetery, and all the Russian script kiddies were driven into a "feeding frenzy" of nationalism on the hacker bulletin boards. The result was a massive DDoS attack on Estonia that lasted for several weeks in May. There is no proof that the Russian government was behind the attack, even though one of the zombie computers came from Putin's equivalent of the West Wing. Of course, just because there isn't any proof doesn't mean they weren't... Russia, of course, is acting like Estonia is no big deal and they don't care.

I wouldn't poo-poo the idea of a cyber-war too much. This isn't something that has been manufactured by Hollywood to sell films, or by the military to get money; in fact, some military groups are not paying enough attention to it. Too stuck in a Cold War mentality, I think. Problem is... the possibility is all too real.

Sorry - the problem with just having finished a research paper on Cyber Warfare is you tend to regurgitate the info at the drop of a hat... so I think I'll pick up mine and hail a taxi.

Notice the penguin didn't take long to appear after the request was made...

interesting. is your paper online for public read? i myself am researching the difficulties of legislating cybercrime on an international front. can it be done, is it possible, bla bla bla. can i read your paper? if not, that's cool, i understand, but if i could that would be great!