Evidence has come to light that Iran is planning to move its systems off the Internet, and create a large Intranet in its place.
So said author and journalist Misha Glenny, during his keynote at RSA Conference 2012, in London this morning. "This is a clear reflection of how the global struggle for the Internet has intensified over the last year."
Glenny said that White House leaks showed that Stuxnet, which set Iranian nuclear efforts back several years, was a result of US-Israel collaboration.
This has resulted in Iran saying it will take itself offline, and develop an Intranet that will not talk to the outside world at all. Glenny added that this is a major step in the fragmentation of the Web into a series of large Intranets, each subject to its nation state's individual regulations.
While this move will certainly lower Iran's risk of being attacked with further cyber weapons, or falling victim to new viruses, the implications for the country's private citizens are devastating. The people would only be able to access content from Iran, which would most likely have to have been approved by relevant authorities.
While China, for example, has already implemented draconian content control and surveillance of its Internet users, this step by Iran takes it to a whole new level, he explained.
Ultimately, Glenny says the Internet itself is morally neutral. "The Internet's strength is its interconnectedness. However, it is up to people to decide whether it is put to good or bad use."
Speaking of the shift in atmosphere over the past few years, Glenny says nations are breaking traditional taboos, by actively recruiting hackers and malware authors. This could result in an unregulated cyber-arms race in which states develop malicious code before deploying it across the globe.
He says, recently, Germany's equivalent of the FBI, the BKA, advertised openly for coders to write Trojan viruses for use in criminal investigations. This is becoming widespread now, although it was unthinkable a couple of years ago.
There is no framework, no legislation to govern the use of cyber weapons or tools. Governments argue that they must join the race or be left behind. It's a slippery slope.
Glenny spoke of a press release he uncovered, from CarderPlanet, a criminal organisation that operated and maintained the Web site www.carderplanet.com for its criminal activities. The site was essentially a marketplace for cyber criminals and potential criminals to buy and sell millions of stolen credit card accounts. Most of its members were Russian, Ukrainian or from Belarus.
The press release essentially warned its users not to steal any credit card account information or login details from citizens of these countries. The organisation had made an agreement with the FSB, the successor to the notorious KGB, that they would be left alone, provided they only targeted Western countries. In addition, the organisation committed to assisting the FSB, should it need its skills for other initiatives.
The lesson here, said Glenny, is that the world must find a way to develop mechanisms to regulate the Internet, as it is edging closer to a huge free-for-all.
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