Should Cyber Attacks Be Stopped Being Random?

The United States is under attack. To be exact, the nation’s power grid is under attack in the form of cyber warfare. On May 21st, 2013 Congressmen Edward J. Markey and Henry A Waxman published a report that provided the findings from information that they had requested from over 150 utility companies (of which 60% responded). More than a dozen utilities reported “daily, constant, or frequent attempted cyber-attacks” (Markey & Waxman) with one utility reporting that they have about 10,000 attempted attacks per month!

Pfleeger, S. Pfleeger, and Margulies (2015) outline possible examples of cyber warfare between Canada and China (p. 844). According to Pfleeger, S. Pfleeger, and Margulies (2015), “the Canadian government revealed that several of its national departments had been victims of a cyber attack…” (p. 844). Eventually, the attack was unofficially traced to a computer in China (p. 844). Cyber warfare can be used negatively and positively. It is evident that China was seeking to gain protected information form Canada. Although a purpose of cyber warfare, it is not a conventional way of obtaining information. Additionally, cyber warfare can be used to collect intelligence on an enemy. Anyone seeking to gather intelligence on another individual or group can launch a cyber attack that gains access to protected files. This could be used to help future militant operations or expose critical information. Lastly, cyber warfare can be used to test systems internally. Acting with no malicious intent, “insiders” can utilizing cyber warfare tactics to attack their own cyber security barriers in order to test the strength of their systems. Seeking to expose the vulnerabilities in a system that contains important assets without actually harming the assets provides the system a diagnosis of what needs to be strengths and fixed. Identifying the problem or threats before an actual attack can ultimately save the protected

Cyberattacks can range from instantaneous to time-delayed and staged in several waves. Attackers can often go as anonymous and can even frame other people. There are also no clear ways to figure out an attacker’s motive or if they are acting alone or as a group. Due to the open-nature of the Internet, it is easier to organize an attack rather than defend against one. Developed countries are also more prone to cyberattacks because of their heavy reliance on technology. Furthermore, many countries categorize cyberthreats as a law enforcement issue rather than a national security threat. This means they are more focused on a set trial and conviction based on criminal intent and a criminal act. Meanwhile, a national security threat can be dealt with based on the severity of the situation. Overall, there is no global consensus on how to effectively deal with

The fourth spoke on the wheel of terrorism is “computer crime”. The use of computers can be used in a good way or can also be abused. Cyberattacks are a huge threat to our national security and technological infrastructure.

Adam Segal’s “The Hacked World Order” reveals many prevalent issues in today’s technologically centered society. Starting at Year Zero, June 2012 to June 2013, the battle over cyberspace witnessed world-changing cyberattacks. This was accomplished due to the fact that nearly 75% of the world’s population has easy access to a mobile phone, and the Internet connects nearly 40% of the total human population, which is nearly 2.7 billion people. With that being said, cyberattacks are becoming a more realistic form of terror.

The destructiveness of cybercrimes. The severity of incidents with the intent to damage and disable critical information network systems will increase.

The use of cyber attacks is a preferred method for cyber terrorists as the advantages far outweigh the traditional methods that have been committed by recent organizations. If a cyber attack was conducted, it would be cheaper to execute than traditional methods, cyber attacks are more difficult to trace, the possibility of hiding the identity and location of the attacker is appealing. There is also the reward of knowing there is no physical barriers or checkpoints to cross, a cyber attack can be done remotely from any location in the world, cyber attacks can cripple multiple targets, thus greatly affecting a larger number of people (Elmusharaf,

Over the past few years, hackers have made numerous shadowy attacks to remain undetected throughout companies crippled security in effort for them to build a stronger protection platform. In 2013, hackers breached and disabled multiple sections of the electric grid in the United States. This mayhem unleashed was simulated but it warned the government to take action on the growing threats of cyberattacks and they did so. Bryn Nelson (2014) confirms a problem as he uses experts like president Obama who stated that cyberattacks were called one of the most serious economic and national security challenges that the United States faces in today’s world (p. 517). If different web platforms don’t take action, then it would be very catastrophic for

The critical front line in the counter terror battle will most certainly be cyberspace. It will also be the most volatile one ,to be sure, homegrown, lone-wolf terrorists will still exist. Some of these attacks can be devastatingly destructive, or at least profoundly embarrassing, as Sony Pictures recently learned. Whether or not the Pyongyang government was actually responsible for the Sony hack, experts worry that regular computer geeks are now able to mount similarly intrusive attacks. And that poses a near-infinite range of potentially serious threats to governments, commercial entities, and

In the U.S. alone, government and private targets are pummeled by hundreds of thousands of hacking attempts every hour. Most of the hacks are directed or sponsored by nation states; the two worst culprits are China and Russia. Luckily, so far they have only figured out how to use the internet to proselytize. If hackers can further their attacks they could wreak absolute havoc economically, politically, and physically. The government has recruited more than 6,000 hackers to the U.S. Cyber Command, a military unit responsible for both combating and waging hack attacks. These hackers that work for the government are always trying to get one step ahead of other hackers, but it is hard to tell what they could do next. This could also increase the

According to Thomas Rid’s (2016) article, “Think Again: Cyberwar,” we have been hearing that “Cyberwar is coming!” for more than two decades. However, even though we experience cyberattacks on a daily basis, to this day none of the threats or attacks has been significant enough to be considered an act of war. Rid’s argument on cyberwar is as of right now “Cyberwar is still more hype than hazard.” (Rid, 2016, p. 1)

We are essentially exposing ourselves and, more importantly, personally identifiable information to a number of cyber threats every time we worked on our laptop. Hackers, often with the help of malicious software, do their best to steal information from personal devices for the benefit of themselves or a third party. EBay, for example, revealed that hackers had managed to steal personal records of 233 million users’ personal information, including usernames, passwords, phone numbers and physical addresses between February and March in 2014. Moreover, damage that derived from cyber-attack also have an impact on national economy, which increase a further risk of living hood of the public. According to the AP, U.S. intelligence officials have said that cyber-crime currently trumps terrorism is the biggest threat to the country’s security. According to research from Arbor Networks, the number of DDoS events, Distributed Denial of Service attack, topping 20GDPs in the first half of 2014, are double that of 2013. With more than 100 attacks at over 100GDPs or higher recorded in the first half of the year in US. Posed by cyber-attack, the devastating impact on individual and the nation has begun to attract attention of the public. Given by IT governance nonprofit ISACA, it was said that 92 percent of respondents felt that advanced persistent

Cyber threat covers many malicious activities in cyberspace. There are many examples of these activities that show how wide and complex the attacks can be. Individuals can attack personal home computers, government websites, involve themselves in cyber espionage, damage physical infrastructures, steal millions of dollars, or even cause the stocks to fluctuate due to inaccurate information posted online. With the current wave of companies being hacked, it is clear that cybercrime is growing, and is only going to get worse.

Cyber terrorism has heated up in the political arena thus becoming economically rewarding in relation to career. There are many projects that have been launched to study to study the threat and experts have addressed the congress on the matter and the danger it pauses in a society.

Cybersecurity has only been around for a short time. In the short time it’s been around, it’s gone from a simple application process in security, to one of the most complicated things to get right in order to protect the internet. In the late 80’s the very first computer worm was created by Robert Morris. He released it into the internet in the early 90’s. With it, he shut down large portions of the internet. (Infosecurity Magazine) Back then, the internet didn’t play a large role in everyone’s lives, as it does today. But with that breach, it alerted people that we needed to come up with something to keep that from happening again, hence cybersecurity was born. Since then, cybersecurity has only become more complicated, as