The Fears and Reality of International Cyberwarfare
HEPP 433
By Andrew J. Ziegler
12/09/2000

Introduction
 
In hand with the explosive growth of the Internet, the vulnerabilities of The United States infrastructure has risen to worrisome proportions.  The term "Cyberwarfare" is being mentioned more and more in discussions about the future of the Internet.  This is not surprising, considering that the Internet was born out of tactics being developed by the U.S. Military to communicate faster.  Here, we will explore the what Cyberwarfare is, and what's being done about it.

 

 

What It Is
 

We have all heard of web sites being defaced and damaged by young rebels on their homemade computers.  But what about the Government agencies who spend millions of dollars and recruit the most able developers to do nothing but develop ways to disrupt another countries electronic infrastructure? 
Every world power country, and some non-world power countries, are currently developing significant cyberwarfare capabilities.  (Strobel, 2000)  Some of the tactics developed have already been put to the test. 
  • In the spring of 1999, the U.S. Military carried out cyberattacks against Yugoslavia.  (USAToday, 1999)  Although the details of the attacks and the effectiveness they had were unable to be uncovered by this author, the reality of the action is not lost.
  • Israeli and Arab web sites alike were defaced, destroyed, and otherwise disrupted by millions of electronic attacks in the 2000 Mideast uprisings.  Reports of cyberstrikes against Israeli web sites have yielded "The first full-scale war in cyberspace" (Robinovich (Hockstader, 2000)) 
The types of cyberwarfare range from simple "Web Vandalism" to "Attacking critical infrastructure."   "Web Vandalism" is when opponents deactivate or deface web pages.  "Attacking critical infrastructure" is when electricity, water, fuel, communications and transportation are rendered useless by electronic attacks.  (C.S.T.S., 2000)
The United States has not only been the attacker, but the victim as well.  According to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, twenty three nations have cybertargeted U.S. systems, and many more individuals have succeeded.  In 1994, a 16-year-old English boy crashed over 100 U.S. defense systems.  There was also an attack that re-routed 911 emergency numbers to sex service numbers in Sweden. (Webster, 2000) 
Complete disruption of financial markets, power grids shutting down on a national scale, total and complete loss of telecommunications and instantaneous loss of the Air Traffic Control System could each and of themselves bring visions to the mind of post-apocolyptic scenes such as those seen in "The Terminator", and "Mad Max."  Now, imagine all of these things happening at once.  The frightening thing is that it's not so hard to imagine, according to numerous experts and studies done on the potential of cyberwarfare.
The Military leaders of every country in the world are considering the potential ramifications of cyberwarfare.  "The disruptive effects of a cyberattack on a transportation or electrical grid [are comparative] to those of a nuclear weapon." (Strobel, 2000, pg.2) 

 

 

What Is Being Done
 

In October of 1999, the Pentagon established a cyberwarfare center in Colorado Springs to defend the U.S. electronic infrastructure and develop methods to attack an enemy's computer networks. Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at the time, "This is an acknowledgment that in the world where communication is critical, our ability to protect our systems and potentially get inside an adversary's system and affect his decision is critical." (Becker, 1999)
Much focus is on our ability to attack other nations electronically, but much attention has also Recently much work has been done in defense of the U.S. electronic infrastructure.  One major difference between the offensive and defensive strategies of the U.S. cyberwarfare program is the dependence on private sector cooperation.  The telecommunications, banking and transportation industries are widely owned by private companies which the government must work with in order to ensure a virtual shield is in place over the U.S. electronic infrastructure.  Fortunately, consumers concerns about internet privacy have risen to a point that to ignore tight security would be seriously damaging to a company.  This has encouraged companies to research and implement high level securities surrounding all potentially damaging access ways into their computer networks.  According to a December 2000 report produced by members of the National Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security, "Many companies have made significant progress during the past year to protect their infrastructures from attack, but others still face an uphill battle."(Verton, 2000, pg.1)

 

 

Conclusion
 

The next war is guaranteed to be fought as much in cyberspace as on the battlefield.  The new weapons of choice will be keyboards and modems instead of guns and missiles.  It is both frightening and thrilling to know that we are embarking upon a time in history comparable to the invention of the sword, the gun, and the atomic bomb.  In this case, it is interesting to note everyone is aware of the dangers that the new electronic world holds, and we are all starting with virtually the same amount of knowledge, equipment and potential.  Hopefully, the efforts being made to defend nations will be successful far sooner than a time when our worst fears are realized.

 

 

References

Warren P. Strobel. 2000. A Glimpse of Cyberwarfare. [Web site Article]. Available: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/000313/cyberwar.htm [12/4/2000]

USA Today Tech Report. 1999. U.S. Used Cyberwarfare Against Yugoslavia. [Web site Article]. Available: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ctg372.htm [12/4/2000]

C.S.T.S staff, The Center for the Study of Technology and Society. 2000. Special Focus:Cyberwarfare. [Message Board]. Available: http://www.tecsoc.org/natsec/focuscyberwar.htm[12/4/2000]

Elizabeth Becker. 1999. Pentagon Sets Up New Center For Waging Cyberwarfare. [Web site Article]. Available: http://www.infowar.com/mil_c4i/mil_c4i_100999a_j.shtml [12/4/2000]

Judge William H. Webster, Arnaud de Borchgrave. 2000. Cybercrime...Cyberterrorism...Cyberwarfare.... Available: http://www.scis.org/pubs/cyberfor.html [12/4/2000]

Dan Verton and Matt Hamblen. 2000. Report finds progress in cybersecurity in private sector. [Website Article]. Available: http://www.cnn.com(remaining url hidden due to length; click to view) [12/6/2000]

back to top