Learning to operate on the sea has taken mankind two or three thousand years. The UN Convention of the Law of the Sea took a decade to work out, but now 195 sovereign nations steer their ships and actions at sea according to its charts and grids and legal stipulations. There is a similar need to find an international accord on how to navigate what might be called the Cyber Sea. There is not nearly so much time to create such a regimen for cyberspace, yet the lack of charts and accords places users in danger of a cyber Pearl Harbor. Hard national and international decisions are needed on what constitutes incidents and attacks as well as policies prescribing proportional responses, pursuit of attackers across national boundaries, and other concerns. White House, Pentagon, and NATO strategies are addressing these matters, but these efforts must expand. |