Deterrence will keep a lid on cyberwar, former spy chief says

Major sponsors of cyberwarfare forces are reaching a state of deterrence resembling the mutually assured destruction in nuclear weapons standoffs, former U.S. national intelligence director Dennis Blair said Tuesday.

All nation states would suffer if countries engaged in cyberattacks against civilians, and world leaders including those in China and Russia are reluctant to unleash such forces, Blair, a retired U.S. Navy admiral who oversaw U.S. intelligence from 2009 to 2010, told a news conference in Tokyo.

Military and civilian systems are often intertwined, Blair said, pointing to GPS as an example of a military technology that is now used in widespread civilian applications from navigation to financial transactions.

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