Panel Discussion - The Great Debate on Cyberwarfare

Collateral damage in cyberwar

A Zero Day Con panel with Brian Johnson (US university security), Donna Craven (Irish Prison Service), Luke Sutherland (NCIS), and Pat Lordan debates cyberwarfare's state. Johnson, ex-US Army intelligence, says collateral damage planning differs sharply from kinetic ops—attacks spread across shared networks and common vulnerabilities.

Attribution and fear

Luke Sutherland notes cyber attacks lack clear attribution unlike bombers with flags; guerrilla-style anonymity across jurisdictions discourages reporting and aids adversaries. DDoS botnets compound tracing difficulty. Donna Craven urges transparency and collective defense, citing Ireland's HSE ransomware attack as near-warfare with civilian impact.

Organizational response

Panelists stress under-reporting from fear and embarrassment, the law of the jungle in cyberspace, and need to raise costs for bad behavior. Critical infrastructure like prisons must shift from keeping people in physically to keeping attackers out digitally while sharing intelligence across partners.