Cyber Warfare has always been seen as a minor security issue amongst several nations for the past couple decades. However, it seems as if the time is upon us where the skills and expertise of cybercriminals all over the world will be employed by government and military personnel of several powerful nations. Imagine instead of bombarding a town filled with military buildings and equipment, a country hires a team of hackers to botnet attack a country’s national bank- causing national mayhem. According to Paul B. Kurtz, an analyst at Good Harbor Consulting, that time is now.. With the releasing of his McAfee Report, “Virtually Here: The Age of Cyber Warfare”, Kurtz maintains that such incidents are occurring.
Cyber attacks have been reported in Estonia as well as Georgia, both of which have been viewed as traceable to Russia. Many blame North Korea for the July 4th attacks on South Korea and United States resources. Congressman Peter Hoekstra (Rep. Michigan) publicly stated that a counterattack or action of “force or strength” against North Korea should have been conducted. Bank closures and manipulation of financial records were the congressman’s biggest fear. All in all, Kurtz maintains that cyber warfare is a serious and real issue. Then again, he also insists that attributing suck attacks are very difficult. Nations can simply “go to the criminal underground to secretly pay for a massive botnet attack against its enemy.” Anonymity is standard procedure in the hacking community for obvious reasons. They do not want to be caught. They hardly ever are.
The first thing needed to be done by all nations around the world is to accept cyber warfare as a legitimate threat and concern for all countries. If it is as easy as Kurtz explains, anybody can attack anybody. The smallest, most insignificant country or rebel group is now capable to infiltrate and cause destructive mayhem to the largest and most powerful countries such as the United States. It is a scary thought to digest. However, it must be digested. Security to prevent these attacks must be tightened. Cybercriminals all across the globe must be punished. The Internet with its public domains and free international access is the future’s battlegrounds. We must all treat it as so. Yes, the Internet has opened many doors of opportunity; cyber warfare should not be one. Although I am not sure what legislative and diplomatic steps must be taken in order to avoid such incidences from occurring in the future and in larger proportions, I do know action is necessary sooner rather than later. As with all problems, awareness is the first step to a solution. Cyber warfare is a severe threat just as any other type of warfare.
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There was a similar story on 60 minutes a few weeks ago. According to the report, the US has fallen behind other nations in our information security at the government level. The same report also suggested that groups in China may have already gained access to the US power grids and water supply programming. According to the interviewed experts, the US also needs to worry about this problem because of the amount of defense and technological advances we have in comparison to the other leading nations.
ReplyDeleteIt is well known among security experts that these problems are viable threats. It seems that, however, these threats are taken seriously by the state and defense departments. Unfortunately, the federal bureaucracy needs to wait for official support and funding to combat these attacks and create new defenses.
This brings us back to the problem we discussed at the beginning of the year, that there is a typical gap between information security team of a company and the rest of the organization. The United States must close this gap soon, as our water supply, power supply, and monetary systems are higly at risk.