Cyber Warfare

Cyberwarfare means generally warfare waged in cyberspace. It can include defending information and computer networks, deterring information attacks, and denying an adversary the ability to do the same. It can include offensive information operations mounted against an adversary, or even dominating information in the battlefield. It also includes computer and network penetration, denial-of-service attacks on computers and networks, equipment sabotage through cyberspace, sensor jamming, and even manipulating trusted information sources to condition or control an adversary’s thinking.

Study Guide

The new rules of war

Much comment has been made about the ethics of cyber warfare, or disabling an enemy's resources or information through malicious use of a computer. The United States Government is quickly adapting its policy and trying to become a cyber-warfare superpower while also making sure that they don't violate the civil liberties of both citizens and non-citizens. It seems that the definition of the enemy has become blurred. While it is generally accepted that the government is able to spy on any data transmitted over the net, much debate remains over whether this is ethical.

September 11th left us all crying for better surveillance against the "bad guys." In order to appease various civil liberties groups in the U.S. dealings in cyber espionage and warfare have been somewhat "under the table," until now. It will be interesting to see whether Americans will be willing to forego privacy in the interest of security.

Surveillance, September 11th and Civil Liberties

Is it ethical for the U.S. to spy on suspected terrorists? Should the U.S. have been able to reconstruct cellular phone calls from that fatal crash on September 11th? Are we glad that we had the ability to do this? Does this scare anyone? Many issues such as this will have to be resolved in order to move forward as a country in the coming months.

Despite the lack of hard evidence on the nature or identities of cyber terrorists, however, the threat is deemed serious enough for the White House to allocate $6bn (£3bn) for strengthening its systems against attack. Those plans have been characterised by critics as a potential invasion of civil liberties. Bush administration officials say they are a necessary defensive measure. Homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff has called it "one area where we have significant work to do".

Taken from a Barrack Obamma speach:

As President, I’ll make cyber security the top priority that it should be in the 21st century. I’ll declare our cyber-infrastructure a strategic asset, and appoint a National Cyber Advisor who will report directly to me. We’ll coordinate efforts across the federal government, implement a truly national cyber-security policy, and tighten standards to secure information - from the networks that power the federal government, to the networks that you use in your personal lives.

To protect our national security, I’ll bring together government, industry, and academia to determine the best ways to guard the infrastructure that supports our power. Fortunately, right here at Purdue we have one of the country’s leading cyber programs. We need to prevent terrorists or spies from hacking into our national security networks. We need to build the capacity to identify, isolate, and respond to any cyber-attack. And we need to develop new standards for the cyber security that protects our most important infrastructure - from electrical grids to sewage systems; from air traffic control to our markets.

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U.S. Government policy and concerns

National security is becoming progressively more dependent on and identified with assets related to the "information revolution." As part of this revolution, both defense and civilian activities are becoming more heavily dependent on computers and communications, and a variety of key information systems are becoming more densely and extensively interlinked. With the many benefits of the information revolution have also come vulnerabilities. Civilian data encryption and system protection are rudimentary. Talented computer hackers in distant countries may be able to gain access to large portions of the information infrastructure underlying both U.S. economic well-being and defense logistics and communications. Current or potential adversaries may also gain access through foreign suppliers to the software encoded in U.S. transportation and other infrastructure systems. We could thus one day see actions equivalent to strategic attack on targets of national value within the U.S. homeland and on essential national security components and capabilities. In short, there will exist the capability for strategic information warfare.

International policy and concerns

"Today’s weapon of choice for terrorists remains the AK-47, the car bomb, and the rocket. But terrorists looking for a bigger impact will increasingly turn to weapons of mass destruction and cyberterrorism." - Ambassador Michael Sheehan, US Coordinator for Counterterrorism

Just how much impact did the Internet have on foreign policy decisions relating the war? It clearly had a part in the political discoursetaking place, and it was exploited by activists seeking to alter foreign policy decisions. It also impacted military decisions. While NATO targeted Serb media outlets carrying Milosovic's propaganda, it intentionally did not bomb Internet service providers or shut down the satellite links bringing the Internet to Yugoslavia. Policy instead was to keep the Internet open. James P. Rubin, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said "Full and open access to the Internet can only help the Serbian people know the ugly truth about the atrocities and crimes against humanity being perpetrated in Kosovo by the Milosevic regime."2 Indirectly, the Internet may have also affected public support for the war, which in turn might have affected policy decisions made during the course of the conflict.

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Effects of Cyber-Terrorism

Cyberterrorism can have a serious large-scale influence on significant numbers of people. It can weaken countries' economy greatly, thereby stripping it of its resources and making it more vulnerable to military attack.

Cyberterror can also affect internet-based businesses. Like brick and mortar retailers and service providers, most websites that produce income (whether by advertising, monetary exchange for goods or paid services) could stand to lose money in the event of downtime created by cyber criminals.

As internet-businesses have increasing economic importance to countries, what is normally cybercrime becomes more political and therefore "terror" related.