What Is Cyber War : A Comprehensive Guide For 2021

INTRODUCTION

Cyber warfare is the use of digital attacks, such as computer viruses and hacking, by one country against another’s critical computer systems to cause damage, death, and destruction. Hackers can battle alongside soldiers using traditional weapons like guns and missiles in future wars, attacking an enemy’s infrastructure with computer code. Cyber war is becoming a more common and dangerous feature of international conflicts. It’s still a shadowy world full of spies, hackers, and top-secret digital weapons projects. However, considering the current cyber warfare arms race and the lack of clear rules governing online conflict, there is a real danger that events will spiral out of control.

In contrast to conventional weaponry, cyber warfare is much more clandestine and difficult to track. Malware, for example, can lurk undetected in a system, slowly transmitting information to its creator or waiting for the right occasion to unleash its destructive capabilities. Since no party has often taken responsibility for these attacks, there is a lot of room for speculation about state-sponsored organizations.

1. What does cyber war look like? 
2. Why is the government investing in cyber warfare right now? 
3. What is and what is not cyber warfare?
4. Ransomware and cyber warfare 
5. What is Stuxnet? 

1.What does cyber war look like? 

In that they have the same impact, the weapons of destruction used in cyber attacks are identical to weapons widely used in other criminal attacks.

Botnets that initiate distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, for example, can threaten critical services and digitally cripple organizations or even function as a distraction from other malicious cyber operations, such as network intrusion attempts. Spear phishing and social engineering are other methods to get cyber criminals closer to the networks they intend to target. Insider threats are a major risk for companies looking to defend their networks from intruders. Still, they are incredibly effective in the hands of hackers, allowing them to directly expose a network to a threat or allow a group to steal sensitive data.

Cyber weapons that kill interact with, corrupt, track, or otherwise harm the software that operates the computer systems can attack the syntactic layer. Malware, or malicious software, such as viruses, trojans, spyware, and worms, are examples of such weapons. Malware can introduce corrupted code into existing software, causing a computer to perform actions or processes that its operator did not intend.

2.Why is the government investing in cyber warfare right now? 

However, the threat of cyber attacks grows with each new computer, consumer, and company that connects to the internet. If a government is unable to provide stable and trustworthy digital communication, communities and economies will suffer.

As a consequence, over 100 governments have introduced national cyber security protection strategies to address the cyber security threats that their people, companies, and critical infrastructure face. We analyzed and benchmarked the cyber security strategies of 11 countries to assist emerging cases. Although countries have taken several cyber security protection approaches, we have established five elements common to effective national strategies.

The following are the five indicators of successful national cyber security strategies:

1. A dedicated cyber security agency 
2. A National Critical Infrastructure Protection program
3. National incident response and recovery plan established cyber crime laws
4. A thriving cyber security ecosystem

3.What is and what is not cyber warfare? 

A web attack occurs carried out by attackers using one or more computers against one or more computers or networks. A cyber assault may be used to intentionally disable computers, steal data, or use a compromised computer as a launch site for other attacks.

Cyber warfare and use of force 

Cyber attacks are a novel tool with the ability to change how state and non-state actors practice modern war. The threat’s specific existence and cyber war practitioners’ ability to cause damage, death, and physical destruction through cyber space put conventional concepts of the use of force to the test.

4.Ransomware and cyber warfare 

Ransomware is a type of malware that is constantly evolving and is designed to encrypt files on a computer, making any files and the systems that depend on them inoperable. Malicious actors would then demand a ransom to decrypt the data. If the bribe is not paid, malware actors often target and threaten to sell or leak exfiltrated data or authentication information. Ransomware attacks have become more frequent in recent years among the Nation’s federal, local, tribal, and territorial government entities and critical infrastructure organizations.

5.What is Stuxnet? 

Stuxnet is a malware type that was designed to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities but has since evolved and spread to other manufacturing and energy-producing facilities. The original Stuxnet malware attack was directed at control systems (PLCs), which are used to automate computer processes. It sparked a media frenzy when it was discovered in 2010. It was the first known virus capable of disabling hardware and appeared to have been developed by the United States National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and Israeli intelligence.

CONCLUSION

Therefore cyber attacks are digital attacks instead of physical warfare with bombs and grenades. This can be a very lethal attack when used against secret information against any nation. Hope you enjoyed reading this article. Thanks for reading and learning.

So, have you made up your mind to make a career in Cyber Security? Visit our Master Certificate in Cyber Security (Red Team) for further help. It is the first program in offensive technologies in India and allows learners to practice in a real-time simulated ecosystem, that will give them an edge in this competitive world.

ALSO READ

• ISAC: A Simple And Concise Guide For 2021