An Introduction to Hacking and Crimeware

CHAPTER 4: THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

“Kill with a borrowed knife” is one of 36 Chinese Stratagems.⁵⁰ Is commercially available malware such a knife? Granted, governments cannot really control what hackers are doing and their entrepreneurial drivers, but can that be influenced?

Governments, being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their adversaries, are hurriedly forging cyberwarfare conventions and agreements.⁵¹ Although everyone is aware of the threat, nobody wants to be engaged in full-blown cyberwarfare with a technically savvy adversary. Besides, engaging in cyberwarfare on a state level may constitute a declaration of war, and conventional warfare, especially among the superpowers, is highly undesirable to all.⁵²

There is a way, however, ...