Cyber War

PRESENTATION
CYBERWAR
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What is cyberwarfare?
Cyberwarfare is Internet-based conflict involving politically motivated attacks on information

and information systems. Cyberwarfare attacks can disable official websites and networks,
disrupt or disable essential services, steal or alter classified data, and criple financial systems -
- among many other possibilities.
According to Jeffrey Carr, author of "Inside Cyber Warfare," any country can wage cyberwar
on any other country, irrespective of resources, because most military forces are network-
centric and connected to the Internet, which is not secure. For the same reason, non-
governmental groups and individuals could also launch cyberwarfare attacks. Carr likens the
Internet's enabling potential to that of the handgun, which became known as "the great
equalizer."
Examples of cyberwarfare
In 1998, the United States hacked into Serbia's air defense system to compromise air
traffic control and facilitate the bombing of Serbian targets.
In 2007, in Estonia, a botnet of over a million computers brought down government,
business and media websites across the country. The attack was suspected to have
originated in Russia, motivated by political tension between the two countries.
Also in 2007, an unknown foreign party hacked into high tech and military agencies in the
United States and downloaded terabytes of information.
In 2009, a cyber spy network called "GhostNet" accessed confidential information
belonging to both governmental and private organizations in over 100 countries around
the world. GhostNet was reported to originate in China, although that country denied
responsibility.
The most effective protection against cyberwarfare attacks is securing information and
networks. Security updates should be applied to all systems -- including those that are not
considered critical -- because any vulnerable system can be co-opted and used to carry out
attacks. Measures to mitigate the potential damage of an attack include comprehensive
disaster recovery planning that includes provisions for extended outages.
Cyber-warfare 'is growing threat'
International Institute for Strategic Studies says cyber attacks could become weapon of choice
in future conflicts
Cyber-warfare attacks on military infrastructure, government and communications systems,

and financial markets pose a rapidly growing but little understood threat to international
security and could become a decisive weapon of choice in future conflicts between states, the
London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies warned yesterday.
IISS director-general John Chipman said: "Despite evidence of cyber attacks in recent
political conflicts, there is little appreciation internationally of how to assess cyber-conflict.
We are now, in relation to the problem of cyber-warfare, at the same stage of intellectual
development as we were in the 1950s in relation to possible nuclear war."
The warning accompanied yesterday's publication of the Military Balance 2010, the IISS's
annual assessment of global military capabilities and defence economics. The study also
highlighted a series of other security threats, including the war in Afghanistan, China's
military diversification, the progress of Iran's suspect nuclear programme, and the impact of
terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere.
Future state-on-state conflict, as well as conflicts involving non-state actors such as al-Qaida,
would increasingly be characterised by reliance on asymmetric warfare techniques, chiefly
cyber-warfare, Chipman said. Hostile governments could hide behind rapidly advancing
technology to launch attacks undetected. And unlike conventional and nuclear arms, there
were no agreed international controls on the use of cyber weapons.
"Cyber-warfare [may be used] to disable a country's infrastructure, meddle with the integrity
of another country's internal military data, try to confuse its financial transactions or to
accomplish any number of other possibly crippling aims," he said. Yet governments and
national defence establishments at present have only limited ability to tell when they were
under attack, by whom, and how they might respond.
Cyber-warfare typically involves the use of illegal exploitation methods on the internet,
corruption or disruption of computer networks and software, hacking, computer forensics, and
espionage. Reports of cyber-warfare attacks, government-sponsored or otherwise, are rising.
Last month Google launched an investigation into cyber attacks allegedly originating
in China that it said had targeted the email accounts of human rights activists.
In December the South Korean government reported an attack in which it said North Korean
hackers may have stolen secret defence plans outlining the South Korean and US strategy in
the event of war on the Korean peninsula. Last July, espionage protection agents in Germany
said the country faced "extremely sophisticated" Chinese and Russian internet spying
operations targeting industrial secrets and critical infrastructure such as Germany's power
grid.
One of the most notorious cyber-warfare offensives to date took place in Estonia in 2007
when more than 1 million computers were used to jam government, business and media
websites. The attacks, widely believed to have originated inRussia, coincided with a period of
heightened bilateral political tension. They inflicted damage estimated in the tens of millions
of euros of damage.
China last week accused the Obama administration of waging "online warfare" against Iran by
recruiting a "hacker brigade" and manipulating social media such as Twitter and YouTube to
stir up anti-government agitation.
The US Defence Department's Quadrennial Defence Review, published this week, also
highlighted the rising threat posed by cyber-warfare on space-based surveillance and
communications systems."On any given day, there are as many as 7 million DoD (Department
of Defence) computers and telecommunications tools in use in 88 countries using thousands
of war-fighting and support applications. The number of potential vulnerabilities, therefore, is
staggering." the review said.
"Moreover, the speed of cyber attacks and the anonymity of cyberspace greatly favour the
offence. This advantage is growing as hacker tools become cheaper and easier to employ by
adversaries whose skills are growing in sophistication."
Defensive measures have already begun. Last June the Pentagon created US Cyber Command
and Britain announced it was opening a cyber-security operations centre attached to GCHQ at
Cheltenham, in coordination with MI5 and MI6.
William Lynn, US deputy defence secretary, described the cyber challenge as unprecedented.
"Once the province of nations, the ability to destroy via cyber now also rests in the hands of
small groups and individuals: from terrorist groups to organised crime, hackers to industrial
spies to foreign intelligence services This is not some future threat. The cyber threat is here
today, it is here now," Lynn said.
***
Exercise:
In group discuss what IT strategies that you can plan to help your governments defense
department prepare itself against cyber attacks. Write the strategies in the slides and make a
brief presentation on them in class.

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PRESENTATION

Cyberwarfare is Internet-based conflict involving politically motivated attacks on information

Cyber-warfare 'is growing threat'

Cyber-warfare attacks on military infrastructure, government and communications systems,

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