“If you think that future wars will be like those in the past, where the primary measure of dominance is numbers of ships, planes, and tanks, you are delusional,” the Washington Post opened in an article earlier this year.
Day after day, “cyber war” comes to our ears, and many experts warn of the danger of its repercussions, especially since all that a person needs to carry out a cyber attack that may cause a crisis is a computer, the Internet, and the correct programming skills.
What is cyber warfare? And why is it scary?
It is difficult to define precisely the definition of electronic warfare, but the generally accepted definition according to Techopedia is the use of cyber attacks against a country that would cause significant harm to it, and it is a clear form of conflict in the twenty-first century.
According to the "Desert" website, the confusing factor of electronic warfare and its danger lies in three things:
The first is that any country, or even any group or individual, can cause cyber attacks with devastating effect.
In doing so, it is in stark contrast to nuclear weapons, which require billions of dollars and years of work to obtain.
The second danger is that their effects are long-term and not like conventional warfare. According to Tsai Sung Ting, CEO of Team T5, a Taiwanese cybersecurity solutions provider, such attacks can have long-term consequences due to the type of information the attackers can access. to her.
The third danger, not knowing the enemy who launched the attack, could cause an exaggerated reaction and ignite a war between countries with tense relations, according to a lengthy report published by CNN.
Italy, for example, was subjected to an attack during the recent Corona pandemic, which caused the collapse of the vaccination systems against the epidemic, and at that time there were many doubts about who was behind the attack, was it led by a group of teenagers who oppose vaccines? Or was the attack led by a professional group sponsored by an enemy country?
“Cyber activity offers governments unique advantages over conventional warfare,” says Evan Davidson, Vice President, Japan, Asia Pacific at SentinelOne. “Cyber activity offers governments unique advantages over conventional warfare.”
What results from cyber warfare?
According to Microsoft's recently published Digital Defense report, Russia leads the way with 52% of all attacks between July 2019 and June 2020, followed by Iran with 25%, China with 12%, and North Korea with 11% of cyber intrusion.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, since 2005 thirty-three countries are suspected of sponsoring cyber operations, China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have sponsored 77 percent of all suspicious operations.
Forbes counted many examples of targets for cyber-attacks, but most of them were concentrated in these areas:
Phishing, viruses or malware that attack and destroy critical infrastructure.
DDoS attacks, which prevent legitimate users from accessing their devices or networks.
Theft of important data from governments, companies or institutions.
Cyber espionage that steals information and endangers national security and stability.
Ransomware that holds data hostage until payment.
And finally, any advertising or campaigns used to spread misinformation leads to chaos.
The most dangerous form of cyber attack
Cyber attacks target several aspects, but the most dangerous types of attacks, according to a report on the CNN website, are:
Attacking IoT devices with medical use
Doctors use pacemakers to treat many conditions, and these devices are connected to the cloud and transmit patient data to health institutions.
But what if a hacker or one country decided to disrupt another country, by hacking into those cloud systems and giving them software commands that force them to stop?
“These kinds of attacks are the worst nightmares we can have,” says Alec Ross, a former senior adviser on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Infrastructure attack
Recently, Wired magazine reports, cybercriminals have focused their attack on critical infrastructure, such as transportation systems, power grids, banking systems, dams, water supplies, and hospitals.
“From a national security perspective, penetration of digital infrastructure could damage vital modern services,” Ross said.
For example, an attack on the power grid can significantly affect the industrial, commercial and private sectors.
In December 2015, Russian hackers cut power to 225,000 Ukrainian civilians for about six hours.
In 2019, the energy company SolarWinds was attacked by a group linked to the Russian government, who hacked into the system and used it to send a malicious update, which then ended up affecting about 18,000 users.
An oil refinery in Saudi Arabia was also hit in 2017, and the malicious code was intended to disable recent safety systems that warn of dangerous conditions such as temperature buildup or gas leaks, Wired magazine reported.
The most serious of these was the attack on Italy's vaccination appointment systems in early August, which caused citizens to not have access to the registration site for the vaccine.
Ransomware and its dangerous effect
In April of 2020, citing CNN, the US Department of Justice declared it the "worst year ever" for extortion-related cyber attacks.
The first half of 2021 saw a 102% increase in ransomware attacks compared to the same time period the previous year.
Within a decade, ransomware has grown from a tool by hackers to extort hundreds of dollars from individuals, into a money-making business for cybercriminals.
Digital currencies have proven to be an ideal way to pay ransoms to shadowy cross-border gangs.
According to a report by the cybersecurity company Emsisoft, all the gangs are based in Eastern Europe, but the Russian government does not cooperate in extraditing those as long as they do not harm Russian interests.
In a statement to Allen On, CEO of Taiwanese cybersecurity company Devcore, hackers can often be categorized into two groups:
First: those who work for profit.
Second: those who steal information of national importance.
"Many countries, including the United States, China, Russia and North Korea, have amassed massive cyber armies, either to obtain intelligence or infiltrate another country's infrastructure, or to defend against attackers who might do the same to them," he said.
"Today's hackers are navigating the cyber seas in search of riches through ransom or theft," retired US Army Major General Thomas Ayres wrote last month in the New York Times.
He called on the US government to grant ransomware-targeted companies immunity from data-loss lawsuits in exchange for help with a rapid response.
No comments:
Post a Comment