HOW CYBERATTACKS THREATEN REAL-WORLD PEACE
Cyberattacks are a modern warfare. It is an online
internet attack that could disrupt real-life situations. Some people have
called it cyberwar which to me is more of a 'spy operation'. Just like the last
issue in 2010 of China & USA, againts the company Google. And just recently
more and more, nations are waging attacks with cyber weapons -- silent strikes
on another country's computer systems that leave behind no trace.
It so happens that these weapons are dangerous.
They're of a new nature. They could lead the world into a digital conflict that
could turn into an armed struggle. These virtual weapons could also destroy the
physical world. A good example would be the incident of Soviet Siberia in 1982
where a pipeline exploded with a burst of 3 kilotons, which is the equivalent
of a forth of the Hiroshima bomb. And today, revealed by Thomas Reed, Ronald
Reagan's former U.S Airforce Secretary that the explosion was the result of a
CIA sabotage operation, in which they have managed to infiltrate the IT
management systems of that pipeline.
More recently, the U.S Government revealed that in
September 2008, more than 3 million people in the state of Espirito Santo,
Brazil was plunged into darkness, victims of a blackmail operation from cyber
pirates. Once in 2008, the IT systems of CENTCOM, USA, the central command
managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may have been infiltrated by hackers
just by using a plain but infected USB keys. With theses keys, they may have
been able to get into CENTCOM's systems to see and hear everything. Same goes
with the recent incident with hackers hacking into phones and personal laptops
and computers and releasing confidential information to the public.
So, to understand why all this is happening, we must
look at how through the ages, millitary technologies have maintained or
destroyed world peace. Military technologies can influence the course of the
world, can make or break world peace -- and there lies the issues of cyber
weapons. Let me lay out a few issues related to this matter:
Issue 1: Imagine a potential enemy announcing
they're building a cyberwar unit, but only for their country's defense. But
what distinguishes it from an offensive unit? It gets even more complicated
when the doctrines of use becomes more ambiguous. Just years ago, USA &
France were investing military in cyberspace, strictly to defend their IT
systems. But today, both countries say the best defense is to attack. You see
how it all went? And so, they are joining China whose doctrine of use for 15
years has been both defensive and offensive.
Issue 2: Your country could be under cyberattack
with entire region plundges into total darkness, and you may not even know
who's attacking you.Cyber weapons have this peculiar feature: they can be used
without leaving traces. This gives a tremendous advantage to the attacker,
because the defender doesn't know who to fight back againts. And if the
defender retaliates againts the wrong adversary, they risk making one more
enemy and eneded up diplomatically isolated.
Cyber weapons do not replace conventional or nuclear
weapons. They just add a new layer to the existing system of terror. But in
doing so they also add their own risk of trigerring a conflict -- as I've
mentioned, a very important risk and a risk we may have to confront with a
collective security sollution which includes all of us: NATO Members, European
Allies, American allies, our other western allies, and maybe by forcing their
hand a little, our Russian and Chinese partners. It is true. Cyber weapon can
completely destroy world peace.
Master Freddy
[General Issues]
Post a Comment