The War On Cyber Wars

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”.

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

In “Cyber war is Already Upon Us” by John Arquilla. Arquilla argues that “cyber war has arrived” and there needs to be focus on what can be done to control it (Arquilla 4). Arquilla provides examples of cyber attacks that he considers to be instances of cyber war to argue his point. To be considered an act of war, an attack must be potentially violent, purposeful, and political (Lecture 20. Slide 5). Many of the attacks that Arquilla refers to were purposeful and political, making them comparable to specific battles within a war. However, they should not be classified as entire wars by themselves because traditionally war is defined as a period of ongoing conflict and not one specific attack. While cyber war is a possibility, nothing in

The article “Defending America in Cyberspace” in the journal The National Interest authored by Keith Alexander, Emily Goldman, and Michael Warner taught me much about how the Department of Homeland Security handles America’s cyber threats. The Department of Security is the lead agency in protecting America from domestic cybersecurity incidents. It stated how America fights Cyber crime and security threats. In this day and age, countries are very vulnerable to skilled hackers. Some of them not even under the age 18.

The JIE considers that the future security environment will continue to feature a range of adversaries attempting to shape political behavior by conducting damaging or disruptive cyber-attacks. This is a consequence of the globalization and cannot be stopped, however timely contention is needed. The Joint Force must minimize the consequences of threatened or successful cyberattacks against the United States, its allies, and partners by conducting Military Support to Cyber

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,

We are a Nation on the fringe of another war. We have military personnel engaged in advise and assist roles in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, attacks occurring on our home soil, and cyber-warfare issues still unresolved. These issues are prevalent across various organizations, as seen in the weekly updates that I receive from the U.S. Naval Academy Information Technology department in which employee personal information was compromised, describing how our home network has been affected and security measures that have been implemented to protect us from further attack. The United States code and the United Nations charter provide a great framework for the determination of the cyber-attacks, with each organization implementing their own written doctrine and instructions. The U.S. code defines an “act of war” and the United Nations charter provides the foundation to determine what is deemed an “act of aggression” (U.N. Code, 1992, U.N Charter, 1945).

Strategic goal IV: Build and maintain viable cyber options and plan to use those options to control conflict escalation and to shape the conflict environment at all stages. (INSA 2011,17)

Interestingly, numerous dialogs of cyber warfare and digital conflicts concentrate chiefly on the specialized parts of machines, frameworks, and data but they forget to incorporate the damage that can be done by

There is a serious threat to America's current and continued security. This threat comes from reliance on the Internet. With the openness of the Internet and the potential for anonymity, the Internet becomes an easy avenue for enemies to stage a covert attack. “Some governments, like China, have made cyber-warfare a critical part of their military doctrine, in part to help counter the advantage the U.S. has in conventional and nuclear war fighting capability. The United States is highly vulnerable to a timed, well-organized attack from another state or no state

Cyber-crimes committed against individual people are both horrific and inhumane, yet on the larger scale of things, it is not a national danger as that of a cyber terrorist attack. When an individual’s information is hacked or tampered with, the repercussions are inconvenient, yet at the same time they are manageable and can be dealt with accordingly. A terrorist attack via the web, on the other hand, can potentially have major implications on humanity. “When industrial control systems are connected to the Internet, they can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks. At risk are energy sources and electric grids, water and sewer systems, manufacturing, banks, transportation and communication networks, and other systems that may be targeted by hackers, terrorists, or enemy states seeking to wreak economic havoc”. (Brenner, 2013) Terrorist attacks on the internet can cause turmoil to an entire nation and completely shut it down. Say that Nasa or the FBI were to experience an attack, the entire nation would be at risk. It comes as a shock however, that with all the advancements and tools available nowadays, we are not fully successful in countering these attacks. The United States has a track-record of being offensive instead of defensive regarding attacks. It is clearly not an easy feat and U.S. officials are constantly on the case saying, “Cyber-attacks and cyber-espionage pose a greater potential danger to

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

Cyber warfare is a battle without causalities, a war waged only by written words, fought digitally by those who are bent at disrupting the infrastructure of a nation built on sweat, labor and concrete. Digital battles that are being fought not for money, not for a simple website defacement proclaiming you are the most ‘l33t hax0r on the interwebs’. One of the most major, yet under reported example of this; a lowly worm named Stuxnet. A worm, by the most mundane of definitions, is a self-replicating program, usually malicious, and whose

There are several different forms of cyber weapons, all of which can be used for either an attack or espionage. There are principally five common practices. The first of three attacks that will be examined is spoofing.