Gloss over the fact that the story I'm linking to right here is for a political site, and click through to some of the reports referenced. Apparently the Internet is a threat to national security and will be the downfall of mankind. Or something like that, if you believe the FUD and hype. It's not the argument that bad people are using the Internet that I disagree with. Quite the contrary, I'm well aware of the role of organized crime and terrorists on the Internet. However, that being said, you don't throw the baby out with the bath water. The Internet has also had a democratizing effect on access to information, freedom of speech, and related areas of humanitarian concern and growth.
Inevitably, this saber-rattling will relate to building the case (this time by the State Department) to build their own cyber-security uber-group, just as the Air Force and DoD have done. If you'll recall, just last Fall the AF general in charge of cyber-warfare was making lots of noise about the terrible threats the government is facing (a good portion of which is substantiated and real), and low and behold, his unit received a nice boost in funding.
Bottom line: don't panic, follow good security practices (or hire me to help with that), and simply accept that, like any other large community, there will be malevolent forces at work against which you need to be prepared. Not so scary, right?
