 |
| fot. srbichara/sxc.hu |
Hacking skills and grabbing important information become more and more popular because of the growing development of the Internet. Recently, the number of cyber attacks increased significantly and one of the highest priorities of many companies is to protect their information networks. There is a new frontline in the battle for power and influences – the world is facing a new type of war – the cyberwar.
Only a month ago the Pentagon informed that every form of computer sabotage from any other country will be treated as a declaration of war. These Internet strikes became a serious danger and soon other countries will follow the United States’ decision.
Assaults of he information networks begun many years ago. There was a well known story about the Soviet monument and cemetery placed in the Estonian capital Tallinn. The Estonian government decided to move them on the suburbs despite the Russia’s objection. After that, somebody launched the attack from the Russian territory on the Estonian administration which stayed paralyzed for some time.
Another well known assault was launched in 2011 during the civil war in Libya. When the NATO countries declared their support for the Libyan rebels, the United States stroke the Libyan information networks.
Cyber attacks without the Internet
The U.S.A. is an unquestionable leader in this domain. Only in 2012 this country plans to spend 3.4 milliard dollars on cyber technologies. Half of this amount will be intended on a special project organized by a military agency DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Generally, in the event of attacking an enemy’s computers, there was at least one condition to be fulfilled – the computers needed to be connected to the web. Today, thanks to the new cyber weapon – this condition will be no more important. The new revolutionary technology will enable assaulting a computer network which is disconnected from the global one.
The American media speculate about the preparations for a war with Syria and Iran. Its application was about to be used during the war in Libya, but according to an anonymous official’s words in the interview for “The Washington Post”, the army wasn’t ready for it. He also stated that they are not ready to participate in the Near East conflict. Maybe this is one of the reasons why the West hasn’t intervened yet.
As far as the law regulations are concerned, the Associated Press agency informed that Barack Obama signed some specific orders determining the actions scope of the military commanders during the cyber attacks and spying operations. In some of the situations the president’s approval will be indispensable.
On the other side of the barricade.
We shouldn’t think that other countries are not preparing for the cyber war, especially those countries which are a potential victim of the Pentagon’s operations. During a phone interview on 14th December 2011, Michael Maloof, a former employee of the Pentagon, informed that countries such as Iran, China and Russia remain the main target, despite the fact that the United States monitors every country using the global network.
The governments of these three countries are well aware of the situation and they’re trying to find their own solutions. According to the Reuter’s Agency, the biggest Iranian telecommunication company bought a monitoring system from their Chinese counterpart. This system is able to follow the ground, mobile or the Internet communication. Barack Obama criticized this action saying that Iran is putting an “electronic curtain” on its citizens.
This statement is actually very close to the reality because the Iranian authorities have a special technology which enables blocking some websites on the Internet.
Iran has already performed some spectacular actions. The most know is the one about taking over “The Beast of Kandahar” – the Sentinel type American spy drone. This drone is considered as one of the most modern machines of this type. Another Iranian attack was launched this year on February – the “Iran Cyber Army” group blocked the website of Azeri television the AzTV. One month earlier somebody assaulted the government websites and left a message “Jewish servants”.
Iran was somehow forced to improve its cyber technology because of the attacks launched by the Stuxnet virus. The industrial infrastructure was highly damaged especially in the nuclear complex. It was the first known virus which could cause such enormous loss. The Stuxnet was totally removed in 2010. As the “New York Times” states, this virus was elaborated by the U.S.A. and Israel services.
Other groups
We need to remember that countries constitute only one of the groups fighting in cyber space. Along with the big corporations, the independent groups of hackers also play a significant role. In such events, one of the most important things is motivation – hackers attack not only for money but also in order to show their power and capabilities.
The most famous group – the Anonymous hacks and attacks on a regular basis and then publishes its accomplishments on the Internet. For example, they hacked the Stratfor company, which takes up geopolitical analyses and white secret service, and published its correspondence by the Wikileaks portal. They also threatened the Polish government with publishing compromising documents in case if the authorities sign ACTA. Finally, the Anonymous published a list with potential scandals which the Tusk’s government could be responsible for.
Apart from the Anonymous, there are also many other groups, even some of “freelancers” acting on their own. For example, a hacker in China assaulted the servers of the biggest Chinese programmatic sites and revealed the data of millions of its users. What is more, in January 2012, the Saudi hackers launched the attack on the Tel Aviv’s exchange and doing so they began an unofficial little war between the Israel and Arabian groups. It consisted on publishing detailed data from thousands of credit cards.
At the beginning of this year there were several assaults in Lithuania, Brazil and India and the Anonymous promised to hack more often and on a regular basis, i.e. every Friday.
Internet police?
Nowadays, the cyber war has an egalitarian character – the authorities in many countries are forced to admit the superiority of single hackers able to control the government websites and steal important information. We can assume that in the majority of countries their information networks will be restructured, but also we should expect a serious discussion on the Internet police. Now it’s a question of future, but if we take the growing number of cyber attacks intoconsideration, the forthcoming creation of such institution is more than possible.
Only a month ago the Pentagon informed that every form of computer sabotage from any other country will be treated as a declaration of war. These Internet strikes became a serious danger and soon other countries will follow the United States’ decision.
Assaults of he information networks begun many years ago. There was a well known story about the Soviet monument and cemetery placed in the Estonian capital Tallinn. The Estonian government decided to move them on the suburbs despite the Russia’s objection. After that, somebody launched the attack from the Russian territory on the Estonian administration which stayed paralyzed for some time.
Another well known assault was launched in 2011 during the civil war in Libya. When the NATO countries declared their support for the Libyan rebels, the United States stroke the Libyan information networks.
Cyber attacks without the Internet
The U.S.A. is an unquestionable leader in this domain. Only in 2012 this country plans to spend 3.4 milliard dollars on cyber technologies. Half of this amount will be intended on a special project organized by a military agency DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Generally, in the event of attacking an enemy’s computers, there was at least one condition to be fulfilled – the computers needed to be connected to the web. Today, thanks to the new cyber weapon – this condition will be no more important. The new revolutionary technology will enable assaulting a computer network which is disconnected from the global one.
The American media speculate about the preparations for a war with Syria and Iran. Its application was about to be used during the war in Libya, but according to an anonymous official’s words in the interview for “The Washington Post”, the army wasn’t ready for it. He also stated that they are not ready to participate in the Near East conflict. Maybe this is one of the reasons why the West hasn’t intervened yet.
As far as the law regulations are concerned, the Associated Press agency informed that Barack Obama signed some specific orders determining the actions scope of the military commanders during the cyber attacks and spying operations. In some of the situations the president’s approval will be indispensable.
On the other side of the barricade.
We shouldn’t think that other countries are not preparing for the cyber war, especially those countries which are a potential victim of the Pentagon’s operations. During a phone interview on 14th December 2011, Michael Maloof, a former employee of the Pentagon, informed that countries such as Iran, China and Russia remain the main target, despite the fact that the United States monitors every country using the global network.
The governments of these three countries are well aware of the situation and they’re trying to find their own solutions. According to the Reuter’s Agency, the biggest Iranian telecommunication company bought a monitoring system from their Chinese counterpart. This system is able to follow the ground, mobile or the Internet communication. Barack Obama criticized this action saying that Iran is putting an “electronic curtain” on its citizens.
This statement is actually very close to the reality because the Iranian authorities have a special technology which enables blocking some websites on the Internet.
Iran has already performed some spectacular actions. The most know is the one about taking over “The Beast of Kandahar” – the Sentinel type American spy drone. This drone is considered as one of the most modern machines of this type. Another Iranian attack was launched this year on February – the “Iran Cyber Army” group blocked the website of Azeri television the AzTV. One month earlier somebody assaulted the government websites and left a message “Jewish servants”.
Iran was somehow forced to improve its cyber technology because of the attacks launched by the Stuxnet virus. The industrial infrastructure was highly damaged especially in the nuclear complex. It was the first known virus which could cause such enormous loss. The Stuxnet was totally removed in 2010. As the “New York Times” states, this virus was elaborated by the U.S.A. and Israel services.
Other groups
We need to remember that countries constitute only one of the groups fighting in cyber space. Along with the big corporations, the independent groups of hackers also play a significant role. In such events, one of the most important things is motivation – hackers attack not only for money but also in order to show their power and capabilities.
The most famous group – the Anonymous hacks and attacks on a regular basis and then publishes its accomplishments on the Internet. For example, they hacked the Stratfor company, which takes up geopolitical analyses and white secret service, and published its correspondence by the Wikileaks portal. They also threatened the Polish government with publishing compromising documents in case if the authorities sign ACTA. Finally, the Anonymous published a list with potential scandals which the Tusk’s government could be responsible for.
Apart from the Anonymous, there are also many other groups, even some of “freelancers” acting on their own. For example, a hacker in China assaulted the servers of the biggest Chinese programmatic sites and revealed the data of millions of its users. What is more, in January 2012, the Saudi hackers launched the attack on the Tel Aviv’s exchange and doing so they began an unofficial little war between the Israel and Arabian groups. It consisted on publishing detailed data from thousands of credit cards.
At the beginning of this year there were several assaults in Lithuania, Brazil and India and the Anonymous promised to hack more often and on a regular basis, i.e. every Friday.
Internet police?
Nowadays, the cyber war has an egalitarian character – the authorities in many countries are forced to admit the superiority of single hackers able to control the government websites and steal important information. We can assume that in the majority of countries their information networks will be restructured, but also we should expect a serious discussion on the Internet police. Now it’s a question of future, but if we take the growing number of cyber attacks intoconsideration, the forthcoming creation of such institution is more than possible.
