Today, the threat of cyber warfare is at the forefront of the International Political Agenda. Cyber-attacks take place almost every day between states, countries, and enterprises alike. Every hour of the day, white hat cyber warriors (the good guys) silently fight against cyber-attacks and invading adversaries, thousands of miles from America’s shores.
“The world is slipping towards an intensive, more complicated and destructive warfare than those we’ve known until now,” says Guillaume Poupard, Director General of the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) when he sums up the threats we face. However, this time, the web will be the battleground.
What is cyber warfare?
Cyber-attacks are intentional digital activities designed to slow down or break computer systems. They are now one of the most immediate dangers any group faces. It is an era of political transition and a there has been an almost literal deluge of ‘cyber assaults’ on the West by miscreant government entities, from places including China.
The issue even gained global attention in April when the US and UK made an unprecedented joint statement accusing Russia of malicious cyber activity performed by the Russian government on businesses and consumers. Additionally, North Korea and Iran are also major cyber adversaries that increase the threat to the west.
At a time when almost everyone in the developed world carries a small super computer (for example, their iPhone with them that is constantly connected to the internet and which records every aspect of their movement, altitude, behavior, browsing history, social media engagement and conversation they have, cyber warfare has never been a more imminent and important issue to regular folk.
Cyber warfare in National Security
From a National Security perspective, cyber warfare refers to the digital attacks by one country to disrupt the computer and network systems of another one, with the aim of causing significant damage, destruction or death.
Unlike standard military attacks, cyber wars involve hackers and digital weapons which are increasingly becoming more dangerous than ever before, for a number of reasons. Each attack appears small when considered alone. Together, they can constitute as much of a threat as an enemy aircraft carrier, parked off one of our shores, of course. Additionally, cyber warfare does not provide images for global media news feeds and is therefore far less in the forefront of peoples’ minds.
Considering the present threatening picture of cyber warfare, countries are now building up military cyber warfare capabilities to defend against or to attack other nations, if necessary.
The top International players in cyber warfare
The world has previously blamed Russia for cyber attacks. On August 2009, Russian hackers shut down Facebook and Twitter in Georgia to memorialize the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.
In May 2015, German investigators accused Russia of penetrating the computer network of the German Bundestag. The BfV, German’s domestic intelligence service said that hackers aimed to steal information of the Bundestag as well as of German leaders and NATO.
In April this year, the UK and US government warned the UK telecom providers against using the hardware and services of ZTE, a state-owned Chinese telecoms firm, questioning its credibility. The United States initially banned American companies selling ZTE offerings for seven years.
Russia’s meddling in the US Presidential 2016 Election
American intelligence agencies have accused Russia of conducting an unprecedented influence campaign to interfere with the U.S. Presidential election in 2016.
The amount of evidence available to support the proposition has grown substantially over the past two years. What we know so far suggests that the dozen Russian intelligence officers began attacks in March 2016 on email accounts of the staff of Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign something most analysts point out is well remembered in American history and which had a material bearing on the outcome of the competition.
They also conspired to attack the computers of state boards of elections, voter software, and secretaries of state.
North Korea’s Cyber Attack on Sony Pictures
The entertainment company, Sony Pictures, had to cancel the release of a satirical comedy movie ‘The Interview,’ which showed the story of a conspiracy to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN.
North Korea made it clear they found the film humiliating to their leader and promised ‘merciless revenge’ if the movie was released. The initial hack revealed embarrassing personal information about some of the world’s topmost movie stars. The hack escalated after the hackers threatened cinemas showing the movie.
Cyber attacks on civilian infrastructure
There have been multiple reports of cyber attacks targeting electrical grids and power stations. The US held Russia responsible for a recent strike on its electrical grid, while the NCSC accused the Kremlin of multiple trials to disorder UK infrastructure.
Critical services at stake from cyber warfare also include the financial and healthcare sectors. Last year, WannaCry ransomware worm broke through the UK and the US from Russia and China. This historic ransomware attack was another signal of the damage possible from a nation state attack when hundreds of machines went offline, and operations cancelled.
The cyber warfare between Russia and the West escalated after the joint alert issued by the US and UK accusing Moscow of mounting a malicious internet offensive that seemed to be aimed at espionage, threatening infrastructure and stealing intellectual property.
Preparation to deal with cyber warfare
Cyber-attacks are a global issue, and no country or organization is safe from the threat they pose.
Private organizations are fighting back. New standards have been agreed and businesses which fear they might be at risk should get certified to ISO27001 – the international standard for an information security management system (ISMS) – to stay protected.
From an International perspective, National Security now requires that countries be prepared with their digital weapons to respond to malicious cyber attacks immediately. As we’ve seen in these examples, Cyber warfare can affect the perceptions of countries, their leadership, their entertainment and even, in some cases, the evolution of Presidential campaigns.