Cyberwarfare

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Cyberwarfare

• By Jason Forsythe
• Dr. Guinn
• CSC 385

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Cyberwarfare

• Cyber-warfare is the use of computers and the
  internet in conducting warfare in cyberspace.
• The United States superiority in the Information
  Technology field is ironically the factor that
  makes it so vulnerable to attack.
• Because we have become so reliant on computers in
  so many facets we have created a way for
  countries to defeat us in away they never could
  before.

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Cyberwarfare

• The United States has been consider the Super
  Power of the world and no army has been able to
  defeat us.
• Wars were fought and won through physical contact
  between soldiers and weapons.
• Now countries who could not prevail through
  traditional battle have a source of destruction.

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Types of Attacks

• Web vandalism. Foreign opponents can deactivate
  or deface government or military Web pages. (This
  is usually just a nuisance and easy to undo.)
• Disinformation campaigns. The Internet is a
  popular tool for finding news, and can be used to
  spread mis- and dis-information to affect a
  population's beliefs or psychology. The Net can
  also be used as a platform for rhetoric to incite
  sympathizers.  (This is difficult to implement
  quickly.)
• Gathering secret data. Classified information
  that is not handled securely can be intercepted
  and even tampered with. (Foreign espionage has
  always been a threat, but now there is less a
  need for foreign intelligence operatives to
  physically infiltrate a location.)

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Types Cont.

• Disruption in the field. Military activities are
  carefully coordinated, and heavily dependent upon
  electronic communications transmitted over
  computers and satellites. Opponents can block,
  intercept these vital communications, or pollute
  them with false orders or responses. (This type
  of cyberwar severely endangers the lives of
  soldiers in the field.)
• Attacking critical infrastructure. Many
  components of our national critical
  infrastructure - electricity, water, fuel,
  communications, transportation - are surprisingly
  vulnerable to concerted electronic attack.
  Serious domestic disasters, including financial
  meltdown, are possible. (This type of cyberwar
  poses the most direct threat to civilians.)

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Moonlight Maze

• In 1998, the Department of Defense detected the
  most serious attack reported.
• Moonlight Maze is a group of hackers that broke
  into hundreds of computer networks at NASA, the
  Pentagon, and other government agencies, as well
  as private universities research labs.
• The group manage to steal thousands of files
  containing research, encryption techniques, and
  unclassified data relating to the Pentagons
  war-planning systems.
• Few clues have been uncovered but believed to be
  Russian based.

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Questions

• Is it ethical to use cyberwarfare?
• Is it ethical to shut down a major cities power
  grid or major source of transportation?
• Are we ready?
• How important is it to be the Super Power of
  technology?

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Sources

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare
• http//www.tecsoc.org/natsec/focuscyberwar.htm