No justice served if hacker is a government or scofflaw: cybersecurity expert

Speaking with Network World Senior Editor Ellen Messmer, Clarke shares his thoughts on the hactivist group Anonymous, why we shouldn't trust SLL certificates, and more.

Do you find the hactivist group Anonymous to be threatening?

I think of them more positively than most people, though I can't endorse their breaking the law. They're not trying to steal intellectual property to give it to the competition -- a lot of what is going on in the world is about that. But a lot of what [Anonymous is] doing is highlighting vulnerabilities we see in the enterprise. I'd just like to see this done legally. I'm not condoning law-breaking.

Who do you think was behind Stuxnet (the malware worm aimed at industrial control systems that hit the Iranian nuclear reactor last year)?

I don't know for sure, but many think it was the U.S. or Israel. I'd say the U.S.

Is it just dumb luck that the power grids here haven't been hit with a cyberattack like that?

We are having attacks here that go so far into penetrating the networks, but no attacks yet to take down the power systems. The only reason to get into the grid is for war. They're getting set up so if they were called on to attack the power grid, they can. Today, no one has the motivation. I don't know if I'd call an attack to disrupt and damage the power grid inevitable. We haven't yet seen non-state actors, like terrorists, try.