Richard Stiennon, Author and Chief Research Analyst, IT-Harvest

Attacks on critical cyber infrastructure present very serious challenges to America, but to identify assaults on key systems servers from abroad as cyber war is overblown, says Richard Stiennon, author of Surviving Cyber War, a book being published this month by Government Institutes.

"I don't want to fall into the trap of overhyping the situation; the situation is bad enough as it is," Stiennon, chief research analyst at the IT security advisory firm IT-Harvest, said in an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com. "We have government systems, for the most part, that are extremely vulnerable, and the government has let its guard down, and has to do lot of back tracking and fillings to correct those issues. But the claim that we're at war with somebody, I think, is going go over the top."

In the interview, Stiennon also addresses the:

• Definition of cyber war.
• Steps organizations and individuals should take to survive a cyber war.
• Hands-off approach the government should take in safeguarding key private IT systems.

Stiennon, a former vice president of research at IT adviser Gartner, was interviewed by GovInfoSecurity.com's Eric Chabrow.

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