The news about Flame and its relatives being confirmed as a US/Israel coordinated attack on Iran has mostly been taken with the same awe that a Tom Clancy novel might instill in a reader. We have the President(s) as our Jack Ryan, approving a massive long term software-based intelligence gathering/ infrastructure-crippling mission that keeps our enemies at bay and shows the world our middle finger. While it may be a good publicity move for the President, I believe that there are some negative aspects that should be considered.
Let’s be clear, I’m all for stopping Iran from having nuclear weapons and I also don’t view the attack as an act of war. However, I am more concerned about the precedent that is kind of action sets. In an age where major corporations get hacked into almost daily by black hatters, white hatters, and maybe even fedora hatters, pushing other governments into funding substantial malware producing projects is probably not the best idea. This is especially true when the US has so much to lose with just over 74% of its citizens using the internet. Just as an aside, I love WolframAlpha because I can do calculations like this and this with no problems at all.
Related obligatory Tyler Cowen post.
I’d just like to end paying tribute to sysadmins, they rock.
Silicon Spatula 