The Unseen Threat Of Digital Warfare

Throughout the twenty-first century, technology has been one of the major focusses of people world-wide. Technology has even helped the unemployment rate by creating new jobs that wouldn’t have been around twenty years ago. Overall, technology is a helpful tool that is used to advance our knowledge of the world we live in. However, technology can also be used for wrong-doing. One example of how technology can be used for wrong-doing comes in the form of identity theft. According to Merriam Webster, identity theft is “the illegal use of someone’s personal identifying information in order to get money or credit.” For example, in modern-day America, companies are putting the personal information of their customers in the cloud, a data server that is connected to the internet. As technology advances, it is getting harder for companies to protect your personal information, and easier for identity thieves to hack into the cloud and steal it. Thankfully, President Obama is determined to strengthen cyber-security, and so he has introduced a series of proposals designed to aid the fight against identity theft. Firstly, Obama wants companies to share information with the government, in order to help the companies scan their servers for malicious software known as malware. Also, the president wants a system where customers will be alerted if their credit card is stolen, within a thirty

The United States is under attack. To be exact, the nation’s power grid is under attack in the form of cyber warfare. On May 21st, 2013 Congressmen Edward J. Markey and Henry A Waxman published a report that provided the findings from information that they had requested from over 150 utility companies (of which 60% responded). More than a dozen utilities reported “daily, constant, or frequent attempted cyber-attacks” (Markey & Waxman) with one utility reporting that they have about 10,000 attempted attacks per month!

In “Cyber war is Already Upon Us” by John Arquilla. Arquilla argues that “cyber war has arrived” and there needs to be focus on what can be done to control it (Arquilla 4). Arquilla provides examples of cyber attacks that he considers to be instances of cyber war to argue his point. To be considered an act of war, an attack must be potentially violent, purposeful, and political (Lecture 20. Slide 5). Many of the attacks that Arquilla refers to were purposeful and political, making them comparable to specific battles within a war. However, they should not be classified as entire wars by themselves because traditionally war is defined as a period of ongoing conflict and not one specific attack. While cyber war is a possibility, nothing in

Based on Dauphin County First Assistant District Attorney Fran Chardo, “We become a very electronic-oriented society.” (Marc Goodman). With this increase usage of electronic, we see a new set of criminals and crimes. With the cellular telephone, criminals use it, not only to communicate with one another, but also to target people and as a triggering device. For example, if the criminals are searching for someone they can text each other with the description of a person and then upon verification proceed with an order, possible death. With this same cellular telephone technology, law enforcement can use someone’s cellular telephone to track their movements or identify their location to help with investigations. The new set of crimes is cybercrimes. A cybercrime is any crime that involves the use of computer or the manipulation of digital data. Zackary J. Miller, section Chief of the FBI’s Cyber Criminal Division stated, “I think there is a growing cybercrime problem that we are continuing to chase a bit behind the curve… bank robbery and fraud are all facilitated by the internet.” (Bernice Young, 2011). There are five types of computer crimes: (1). internal computer crimes, such as viruses; (2). internet and telecommunication, which is hacking; (3). criminal enterprises, databases supporting drug distribution; (4). computer manipulation, embezzlement; and (5). hardware, software, and information theft. (Schmalleger,

Tomorrow’s terrorist may be able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb (National Research Council1). The United States Department of States defined terrorism as: “…premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.” Terrorism not only occurs on the real life today but also on the internet. As the technology rapidly developed, there is an increase in the usage of internet, the threat comes along the way. Due to the occurrence of internet terrorism-generating fears to the public, the term “Cyberterrorism” was coined by Barry Collin in the 1980’s (Cyberterrorism Defined). The definition of cyberterrorism differs from various legal systems and government

Times have changed what was known as organized crime has been replaced by Cybercrimes (Heists: Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley). Cybercrimes have risen dramatically in recent years and have become a major issue the United States and company’s face today jeopardizing as well as threatening the critical infrastructure of America (Cyberwar Threat, 2005). Sadly, the status quo of cyber security is very unstable with the advancements and growth which has put most individuals and businesses into an enormous threat (Agustina, 2015).

Adam Segal’s “The Hacked World Order” reveals many prevalent issues in today’s technologically centered society. Starting at Year Zero, June 2012 to June 2013, the battle over cyberspace witnessed world-changing cyberattacks. This was accomplished due to the fact that nearly 75% of the world’s population has easy access to a mobile phone, and the Internet connects nearly 40% of the total human population, which is nearly 2.7 billion people. With that being said, cyberattacks are becoming a more realistic form of terror.

The agencies employed by governments to police the web in order to protect the vulnerable have seen an increase in child pornography and online fraud. The speed at which information can be distributed and the number of people that can be reached attracts those that are intent on causing harm. The term “cybercrime” is becoming more widely used. The financial gains that can be made and the anonymity the internet can provide, make the virtual world of cyberspace a haven for criminals. Although the internet has huge benefits for information gathering and social networking, in the wrong hands it can cause harm to the vulnerable and criminals are able to vanish into the underground with the use of false identities that are hard to track online.

For thousands of years warfare remained relatively unchanged. While the tactics and weapons have changed as new methods of combat evolved, men and women or their weapons still had to meet at the same time and place in order to attack, defend, surrender or conquer. However, the advent of the of the internet has created a new realm of combat in which armies can remotely conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, espionage, and attacks from an ambiguous and space-less digital environment. Both state and non-state actors have already embraced this new realm and utilized both legal and illegal means to further facilitate their interests. What complicates cyber security further is as states attempt to protect themselves from cyber-warfare, private

The drawback of Estonia's information technology framework was that its defensive protocol was not much secure and could be easily hacked. Moreover, the country was much depended on internet.

The branches of the military, for a couple generations, have always been the Army, Navy, Air force, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard; however, in an ever evolving digital world, the notion that outer space would be the next military front is being rapidly replaced by the idea that cyber space will be the next arms race. The United States has been defending attacks on their infrastructure day after day, night after night, when one hacker on one side of the world sleeps, another takes their place to attempt to compromise the US government. The motives may range from a political ‘hacktivist’ trying to prove a point, to an economic spy, trying to gain a competitive edge on its more upstart rivals, to an attempt to control the United States

Outside of the classroom and the office, technology is still omnipresent. The internet, like most advancements and perhaps the best known example of modern technology, began at a military level (“Information Technology” 2) and wound up eventually landing in the laps of businesses and the common person. With this, the normal way of conducting business changed dramatically. Instead of physically exchanging money, it is now possible to use a website like PayPal to make transactions (Friedman 84). This transaction can occur from a computer, smart-phone, or some other electronic device, possible because an extraordinary amount of people, especially young adults, now carry them around constantly (Champy 1). It may have been inevitable, but it is still staggering to see how much these advancing technologies has become commonplace.

From the advent of the Internet, there came with it the opportunity for any of its users to have access to any information they seeked right at their fingertips. With this access; entertainment, market opportunities, educational information, productivity, and global communication were able to grow and flourish, however with these gains seen came with it the weakening of the once secure national strength seen in nations. In the last two decades cyberspace has been defined as the 'fifth battleground’ for international relations, with the aspects of cyber war, cyber terrorism, and cybercrime as some of the largest threats to the security of the national and international community. (Popović, 2013) With this ‘fifth battleground’ of the cyberspace thrown into the international battlegrounds of old, its effectiveness and effect on the both the modern state and the international bodies of the world, posing the question of how will this increased accessibility to the cyberspace will affect national security in the coming years?

In today’s world, we are all in some way connected to or involved with the internet. We all use different services that we feel either enrich our lives or make them more enjoyable every day, from email to FaceBook, MySpace, and e-commerce. We all take a sort of false comfort in the basic anonymity of the internet; however, when we think about it, that could end up being the single biggest risk to our own safety today. When we typically think of crimes committed against us, we could probably name several: mugging, theft, scams, murder, and rape. For these, things we all take as many necessary steps as we can to help lower the chances of them happening to us because they are on the forefront of our minds. However, most of us don’t take the

There are several different forms of cyber weapons, all of which can be used for either an attack or espionage. There are principally five common practices. The first of three attacks that will be examined is spoofing.