Cyberware

Cyberwar is a military operation conducted not physically but electronically, where information acts as a weapon, but as tools, computers and the Internet. Thus, cyber warfare is a type of information war, the purpose of which is to achieve certain goals in the economic, political, military and other spheres by influencing society and government using carefully prepared information.

Although the war of modern times can be called psychological, confrontation in cyber space poses a real danger. Computer technologies and the Internet have become widespread throughout the world and are used not only in the everyday life of citizens, but also in enterprises, in government institutions, which in turn are an important structural unit of the country. A harmful effect on infrastructure, factories, hospitals poses a threat to the national security of countries.

The high priority of cyber war is not only to damage the enemy, but also to protect their own data, so cyber security is an integral part of this kind of confrontation. It is a set of principles, tools and strategies to ensure the invulnerability and protection of the cyber environment, availability, integrity and confidentiality of data.

Methods and stages of cyber warfare

Cyber warfare has two phases: espionage and attack.

The first stage involves collecting data by hacking the computer systems of other states. Attacks can be divided into types depending on the purpose and objectives of military operations:

Vandalism - placing propaganda or offensive images on web pages instead of original information.

Propaganda and information warfare - the use of propaganda in the content of web pages, in mail and other similar mailings.

Leaks of confidential data - anything of interest is copied from compromised private pages and servers, and secret data can also be spoofed.

DDoS attacks are a stream of requests from multiple machines in order to disrupt the functioning of a website, a system of computer devices.

Disruption of computer equipment - computers that are responsible for the functioning of military or civilian equipment are attacked. The attack leads to the failure of equipment or to its shutdown.

Attacks on infrastructural and critical facilities and cyber terrorism - the impact on machines that regulate engineering, telecommunications, transport and other systems that support the life of the population.

Cyberwar targets

All cyberwarfare operations are aimed at disrupting the functioning of computing systems responsible for the operation of business and financial centers, government organizations, at creating disorder in the life of the country, therefore, important life-supporting and functional systems of settlements suffer first of all. These include water supply systems, sewerage systems, power plants, energy centers, and other communication networks.

Source of threat

The dependence of government agencies, businesses and ordinary citizens on the Internet has grown significantly. Accordingly, cyber attacks by one state directed against another can cause significant damage to the country's economy, so that cyber war is a real threat. At the same time, the creation of a computer virus or "Trojan Horse " will cost significantly less than the development and purchase of weapons and missiles, and the damage caused by cyber intrusion can exceed the wildest expectations.

Information security specialists divide cyberspace into three levels:

physical (this level includes network equipment, cables and infrastructure);

semantic (all kinds of data that are transmitted on the network);

syntactic (connecting link between the first and second levels).

Cyberattacks can be divided in the same way:

semantic - data is destroyed, changed or stolen;

syntactic - data transmission streams are violated, including with the help of malicious programs;

physical - real infrastructure facilities are disabled.

The main goal pursued by states waging cyber wars is to disable the infrastructure of strategic importance (financial, energy, industrial, transport networks, sanitary systems, etc.) of their opponents.

Risk analysis

Currently, every technological process is controlled by information technology - even if it is traffic regulation, the slightest violation of which will cause serious problems. The active use of technology has made civilization dependent and therefore vulnerable. Therefore, it is impossible to predict the consequences of a cyber attack. Many countries have become concerned about the security of their information systems and have incorporated it into their national defense strategy. De facto, the Internet space has become a new area of warfare. In the United States, the Cyber Command (Cybercom) has been created for offensive operations and the protection of important facilities from cyber threats. Information security troops (cyber troops) were created in Russia in 2014. China also employs about 20,000 hackers. In addition to these countries, Iran, Israel, and European countries are also preparing for cyberwarfare. The main goal of cyber troops is to protect the country's infrastructure and asymmetric impact on opponents, which is harm using all available technologies.

Malware-Cyberware	Alika Tsulygina

Cyberware

Methods and stages of cyber warfare

Cyberwar targets

Source of threat

Risk analysis

Malware-Cyberware

Alika Tsulygina