What is Cyber Warfare?
Cyber Warfare is an act of war between states conducted in the cyber-crime realm. This system consists of states and sponsored agencies launching cyberattacks against each other. States perform such activities for various purposes. Some of them include:
- To steal the corporate or state secrets
- To disrupt critical infrastructure
- Some attacks seek to control elections
- To affect the software and stay silent until it is needed
Two states or nations can launch cyber attacks against each other even if they are not actively engaged in the cyber war. Such attacks are cheap and very difficult to detect. Therefore, this method is more accessible than directly attacking other states/nations.
Such attacks can also be launched covertly, and there is no globally agreed structure for assigning blame and crippling the cyber security of the opposing party. This is why states such as Russia, Iran, North Korea, North America (United States), and India can launch such attacks regularly to weaken cloud security and gaining access to secret sensitive information.
Types of Cyber threat against the Federal Government
Cyberwar is an emerging concept in the field of computers and technology. However, cyber-attacks are not. Different types of cyber attacks such as DDOS attacks can easily shit down the power grids and compromise network security fabric within minutes. At the same time, such attacks need to be identified by some technical experts. Otherwise, the victim country would be at a significant loss and become a national security issue.
Therefore, it is essential to talk about the future of network security fabric and the loopholes behind this. Some critical pieces of technology are more likely to drive cyber warfare in the coming decade. They include:
1. Machine Learning & AI
Artificial intelligence is being developed in a wide range to magnify the output. They are a valuable tool to simplify the daily needs of human beings. Similarly, some federal governments are using this technology as cyber weapons to find the weakness in the cyber security fabric for the preemptive strike on national security during an act of war.
2. The Cloud
Cloud storage and cloud security space represent both cyber war’s danger and benefit. Distributed information makes it easier to steal critical information. This is because an attacker only needs to find one weak machine to destroy the system. On the other hand, if solid machines are used, cloud storage can be more secure than physical drives.
3. Block Chain
Blockchain will also act as a powerful technology to enhance cyber attacks in the future. It provides a secure way to share key information among multiple users. On the one hand, it promises to protect data from the most common cyberattacks. However, we think that such technology will be replaced sooner or later as soon as the hacker finds some loopholes to destroy the information. Because of this, a blockchain is a popular tool for the department of defense.
What should we do to stay away from Cyber war?
Many nations have weak cyber security and weak cyber operations when compared to big nations like the USA and North Korea. The other states conduct cyberattacks to merely show their cyber weapons or make money for the hacker. So, the victim country needs to encrypt all the information sent and received online. If not, all one needs to do is release DDOS attacks to cripple the network security fabric of the nation and gain access to the nation’s sensitive information. The opposing country doesn’t even need to do this. They can shut down the power grids. In this growing age of digitization, just doing this for a few hours would be enough to cause a massive crisis.
Encryption (conversion of information or data into code to prevent unauthorized access) is a powerful tool to protect information and privacy. This is a useful technique in that the hacker won’t be able to read data even if the data is held. There are many types of encryption.
E-mail is commonly encrypted using PGP. Similarly, using WPA2 encryption on the home Wi-Fi network is better. One of the greatest advantages of encryption is it stops anyone from being able to read the data you are sending. The system protects states from many common forms of attacks. It also keeps you anonymous online and protects your privacy.
Hence, the ultimate form of encryption that one can use is end-to-end encryption. You can easily do this with a VPN (Virtual Private Network). In this way, you can ensure encryption in every piece of information you share.