The Growing Threat Of Cyber Warfare From Russia

Cyber espionage is the act of attempting to penetrate an adversarial system for the purposes of extracting sensitive or protected data of either social or technical in nature. They are illicit activities that range from the commercial and economic to the political and strategic. They include small nuisance attacks to matters of high magnitude and importance like the national security and intelligence (Cornish 2012). Chinese cyber espionage has continued to escalate in recent years; it has continued to gain attention in many institutions including the media, the technology and information services industries, in scientific research and innovations, and as well as the general public. All these institutions are aware that china is taking part in the systematic development of cyber techniques that they intentionally use to invade international organizations, national governments, commercial companies, universities, and research institutes (Cornish, 2012).

There are two main ideas covered in the first chapter. The first is that the idea of a free and open internet, while containing some merit at first, is going away quickly, with governments rapidly finding ways to exert control over the use of cyberspace both in their borders and out. The second main idea is that cyberwarfare and computers present new angles of conflict from conventional weaponry such as the intended targets, method of implementation, potential impacts, and level of damage caused. The author draws on multiple examples from different countries and time periods to support his main

In a documentary by Admiral Vern (2002), “the events of September 11, 2001 tragically illustrated that the promise of peace and security in the 21st Century is fraught with profound dangers”. The US foreign policies and interest in key geographic regions of the world sparks controversies resulting in state funded cyber attacks, cyber espionage and terrorism against the United States and its allied nations. When several attempts to cripple the United States and its allied nations through negotiations failed, enemy states and nefarious groups have shifted their focus to cyber attacks and cyber espionage. According to Gady (2016), “China continues cyber espionage against the United States”. Drezner (2014), “Washington and Beijing hardly agree on everything, but they agree on the big things, like maintaining an open global economy, reducing the likelihood of a military confrontation, and tackling climate change”.

The world is becoming more and more digital everyday, things as simple as the lights in our houses can be linked to a network. Nevertheless, these networks can be a window of opportunity for cyberterrorist groups, or hacktivists to exploit. Technology has also given the resources needed for these groups to become more efficient at what they do, like increasing bandwidth speeds or more efficient computers for example, but also the same technologies can be used to strengthen security measures against these attacks.

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.

We are facing a new threat from the cyber world which allows our enemies to attack from various parts of the world by pushing a button to inflict damage to our nation’s information technology systems. This threat is one which political figures have warned the U.S. government about for years

With the widespread use of technology becoming more prominent, acts of cyber terrorism pose an increased threat to safety. Cyber terrorists exploit the internet and its users to commit acts that can be increasingly detrimental to their targets. Some of the terrorist activities include large scale corruption of computer networks by using tools like computer viruses. Certain individuals even have the ability of creating severe damage to government systems, national security systems and even hospital servers. Most of the technology made today only has intentions of making life easier for people. However, skilled users can manipulate the cyber world for negative intentions. Staying informed when it comes to cyber terrorism and cybercrime is important to do because of the increased reliance on technology in society. Steps to improve cyber security before an attack ensures the safety of sensitive information. The topic of cyber security and cyber warfare are interesting topics to keep up to date with. Understanding these topics can be beneficial to my dream of being in the FBI, ensuring the safety of others by working to prevent acts of cyberterrorism.

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

Cyberterrorism is also clearly an emerging threat. Terrorist groups are increasingly computer savvy, and some probably are acquiring the ability to use cyber attacks to inflict isolated and brief disruptions of US infrastructure. Due to the prevalence of publicly available hacker tools, many of these groups probably already have the capability to launch denial-of-service and other nuisance attacks against Internet-connected systems. As terrorists become more computer savvy, their attack options will only increase.” (War on Terrorism, 2003)

Cyberwarfare - The strengthening of our advantage in the cyber domain directly influences the operational environment by preventing the degradation of the technological advantage we currently enjoy. Despite known and predicted risk, we currently have a 10:1 advantage over our nearest peer competitor China, as regards technology, research, and development. (Miller, p.11) A failure to protect and defend our cyber domain could have catastrophic effects on our infrastructure, economy, military capabilities, and even threaten the public’s confidence in our democratic process (CCJO JF 2030, p. A-1). Non-state actors use of cyber warfare presents a unique challenge to nation states in that it has the potential to degrade traditional forms of national power such as diplomacy, information, military and economic power (Miller, p.34).

As it was stated earlier, attacks happen every day, probably too many to count, and the need to secure our systems grows exponentially every day. New systems, devices, programs, etc., are being developed, and the current growth of technology is quite staggering. We also give our information online in order to use several services, such as Facebook and Amazon. This information can be used against us, and used to find other pieces of personal information, such as a social security number. The concern to guard our technology was present before some of us were even born. For example, in 1982, the CIA created the “logic bomb” to disrupt a pipeline in Siberia, which opened up a new tool for hackers (“25 Biggest Cyber Attacks,” 2013). In 2007, the email address belonging to the Secretary of Defense was hacked as part of a spree to exploit weaknesses at the Pentagon (“history of cyber attacks”). Even a high ranking official’s email address wasn’t safe from cyberterrorists. This information alone should scare some people into making cyber-security the top of their worry list. Everyone’s information is always at risk.

For thousands of years warfare remained relatively unchanged. While the tactics and weapons have changed as new methods of combat evolved, men and women or their weapons still had to meet at the same time and place in order to attack, defend, surrender or conquer. However, the advent of the of the internet has created a new realm of combat in which armies can remotely conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, espionage, and attacks from an ambiguous and space-less digital environment. Both state and non-state actors have already embraced this new realm and utilized both legal and illegal means to further facilitate their interests. What complicates cyber security further is as states attempt to protect themselves from cyber-warfare, private

John Mariotti, a well-known information-security author once said, “We worried for dec-ades about WMDs – Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now, it is time to worry about a new kind of WMDs – Weapons of Mass Disruption” (Relia, 2016, 18). In this quote, Mariotti is stating that it is time for society to shift focus from worrying about, and defending, ourselves from nuclear warfare, to focusing on cyber warfare, a type of attack that is defined by J. Davis as “an attempt to damage another nation 's computers or information networks through, for example, computer viruses or denial-of-service attacks (n.d.).” On a smaller scale, hackers are attempting to damage other users’ computer systems, or information networks, using the same methods. One of

Prevalent to the current trend now is the dependency of the society on Information technology and communication systems. Every aspect of human life is one way or the other linked and controlled by information technology tools. The importance of information technology cannot be over emphasized as its unavailability could lead to a form of disaster or the other. Pivotal infrastructures like finance, healthcare, education and security are driven by information technology. However, information technology and its benefits are accompanied by vulnerabilities and risks that can be exploited by people with the necessary technical skills. Individuals like ‘Hackers’ and ‘Cyber Terrorist’ can cause disruption to information systems, commit financial fraud and also attack computers and networks. These attacks and disruptions could result to violence against people and properties. In some cases, death, serious injuries and severe economic loss could occur as a result of these attacks.

In our ever changing world, cyber systems have become a critical part of our everyday life. They play a role in almost everything that we do in areas such as wall street, banking, hospitals, electric generation and delivery, water treatment and delivery, phone conversation, the defense of our nation and I haven’t even scratch the surface of the countless way cyber systems have become a iatrical part of our everyday life. This dependence on cyber systems has created and every growing threat of cybercrime. (Way Press International, 2000)