...An attack against a computer system or network is how PC Magazine defines a cyber-attack. A Cyber-attack can take many forms, for many reasons and can be executed on a small or large scale. Most cyber-attacks are criminal in nature. These cybercrimes are usually motivated by profit. Recent examples include the cyber-attacks on Visa/MasterCard and attacks on Google’s network by China. The cyber-attacks on Visa and MasterCard were part of “operation payback”, and were carried out by various loose nit groups that organized using social networking sites. “Operation payback” was retaliation against Visa and MasterCard for refusing to continue to do business with the website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks posted leaked classified U.S. diplomatic communications on their website for the world to see. The United States felt this was a criminal act and pressured Visa and MasterCard to stop processing transactions for WikiLeaks. In response hackers launch “operation payback” which used distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to crash Visa and MasterCard Servers. Google recently exited the Chinese market. According to the New York Times, “Google linked its decision to sophisticated cyber-attacks on its computer systems that it suspected originated in China and that were aimed, at least in part, at the Gmail user accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The attacks were directed at some 34 companies or entities, most of them in Silicon Valley, California, according to people with knowledge of...
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...Computers have modernized terrorism in the same way cyber terrorism revolutionized information warfare. There is no distinct definition of Cyber terrorism; however, its threat is as real as waging war but with weapons of automation. Terrorists have begun to exploit the availability of information with the malicious intent to sabotage; conversely, there are those who are not quite sure if information warfare - cyber terrorism is an actual threat. This research paper will briefly explore the history of cyber terrorism, the friend the internet has been to terrorist and how we can make the internet safer through vigilant tactics of prevention and deterrence. It will also expose the truth about cyber terrorism for the skeptic, reasons not to discount the threat, and why it is paramount their mind is changed. Information Warfare-Cyber Terrorism Did you know there were 18 cybercrime victims every second, 1058 every minute, approximately 64,000 per hour, and 1.5 million per day, that affected over 556 million people within the last year (Norton , 2012)? The internet has made it possible for terrorists to gather our public information and use it against us. As the internet matures so does the terrorist, finding ways to cripple and intimidate. The internet and terrorists have become a real hazard to the health of the cyber world. The government has implemented several organizations to help combat cyber terrorism but have not given it a clear concise definition. Skeptics...
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...Living in the Age of Cyber Attacks and Cyber Warfare UMUC If you asked the average person on the street about cybersecurity and cyber warfare, they would probably say they don’t know much about it other than the fact that it involves computers. In fact, for anyone outside of the cybersecurity industry, the closest thing to cyber warfare that they may have experienced was their viewing of the movie War Games, or the fourth installment of the Die Hard series, Live Free or Die Hard. While those movies had a profound impact on the lives of the characters in the script, the audience probably thought it was merely fiction, not fully based on fact. In Live Free or Die Hard, John McClain (played by the indefatigable Bruce Willis) is attempting to stop a domestic cyber-terrorist who is acting out on a vendetta against the United States. The cyber-terrorist is successful in launching an online attack to overload and destroy a power grid that left much of America’s East Coast in darkness. When I first saw this movie, I was curious if an attack like that was really possible; however, most people around me just labeled the movie as “Hollywood’s overactive imagination”. With cyber attacks literally having the ability to affect lives in a nanosecond, it is vital that everyone understand what cyber attacks entail, the impact of these cyber attacks on a domestic and international scale, and knowing what to expect in the future while living in a world dominated by virtual experiences...
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...For over a decade, the concept of cyber warfare (computer warfare) has bee embedded i military doctrine. I 2000 the Defece white paper stated a ambition to repond to cyber warfare attacks. The 2007 Defence Update went further by calling for a focus on 'cyber warfare' to protect 'national networks and deny information'. The most recent Defence White Paper in 2009 also announced a 'major enhancement of Defence's cyber warfare capability...to maximise Australia's strategic capacity and reach in this field'. Given the rate of technological change and the number of system vulnerabilities discovered every day, the ADF's cyber capabilities will require dedicated and constant attention. This will be difficult to achieve and sustain if the ADF has not fully defined what it means by cyber warfare and how it will be used to serve Australia's interests. There are several definitions of cyber warfare, one of which was provided earlier this year by Defence Signals Directorate's (DSD) Deputy Director of Cyber and Information Security Mike Burgess in a speech to the Old Crows Association. He defined cyber warfare as 'an act...intended to degrade, destroy or deny computer accesses and systems' and added 'a true act of cyber warfare would have to be potentially lethal, instrumental and political'. Information stored on computers has become a key national asset and an element of our national power. Our ability to create information, store it, secure it, analyse it and harness it to make...
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...Cyber warfare One of the first cyber-attacks was the Morris worm in the year 1988. It had affected the world cyber infrastructure. This worm utilized the weak areas of UNIX system Noun1. This worm has replicated adversely and slowed down the computers in all of the US and made them unusable. Cyber warfare has become a societal issue now. Though the roots of cyber warfare aimed at military areas primarily, it extended its effects to non-military areas too. The information infrastructure based companies have become victimized due to abundant availability of cheap cyber weapons over internet. This resulted in economic instability. Libicki classified information warfare into seven categories. They are intelligence based warfare, economic information warfare, hacker warfare, psychological warfare, electronic warfare, command and control warfare and cyber warfare. CSI and CERT information reflects that securities incidents are common, private firms are the major targets and much of these security incidents never receive public acknowledgement (Geeks et al., 2010). Several tools in the cyber warfare are developed based on Windows and are available free of cost. They require a minimal understanding about the technology frames. Many of the network organizations today are using well developed proxy servers, intrusion detection systems and firewalls. However these defensive systems are often configured improperly and carried known vulnerabilities. This weakness gave an opportunity even...
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...September 9, 2012 A New Kind of Warfare Cybersecurity efforts in the United States have largely centered on defending computer networks against attacks by hackers, criminals and foreign governments, mainly China. Increasingly, however, the focus is on developing offensive capabilities, on figuring out how and when the United States might unleash its own malware to disrupt an adversary’s networks. That is potentially dangerous territory. Such malware is believed to have little deterrent value against criminals who use computers to steal money from banks or spies who pilfer industrial secrets. But faced with rising intrusions against computers that run America’s military systems and its essential infrastructure — its power grid, for instance, and its telecommunications networks — the military here (and elsewhere) sees disruptive software as an essential new tool of war. According to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the 15 countries with the biggest military budgets are all investing in offensive cyber capabilities. The latest step occurred last month when the United States sent out bids for technologies “to destroy, deny, degrade, disrupt, corrupt or usurp” an adversary’s attempt to use cyberspace for advantage. The Air Force asked for proposals to plan for and manage cyberwarfare, including the ability to launch superfast computer attacks and withstand retaliation. The United States, China, Russia, Britain and Israel began developing basic cyberattack...
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...Authority on cyber warfare As we approach a new generation of warfare, we face new problems. Each generation before us has shown that there are continued advancements in warfare technology and with new technology there are different guidelines and terms of use in concordance with international law. The art of war has not changed since the beginning of time. Yes, there are new weapons, but the content for the most part is the same. Defeat your enemy, rendering them unable to strike back, or attack them where it hurts so that they do not want to proceed in the war. Through the evolution of war, the United States has conquered and been defeated. We may not always be law abiding, but we do what we deem necessary to defend the nation. In the process of defending, we learned that technological advancements are not always a positive thing, and technology can become too powerful for any one nation alone. The creation of the nuclear bomb was just that. Now that there is this terrifying new advancement in warfare technology, how do we stop it from getting into the hands of the wrong people? Executive summary, In this paper, I will discuss how the Stuxnet virus was used to stop the use and development of nuclear weaponry in Iran. The laws on proper use will also be discussed, exploring whether it was lawful to deploy the virus, with relation to the use of Traditional Military Activities and presidential findings. In addition...
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...Cyber Warfare Defense Report for the Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer Introduction Despite being unmatched technologically in the battlefields, the low-cost, simple, complex and expensive asymmetric threats have proved to be significantly dangerous to the security of any country. While cyber-attacks are increasingly driven by automated processes, human beings still operate at human speeds. Today, cybercrime has developed and adversaries have gained sponsorship from governments, international organizations or individuals for their selfish interests. The most recent development in cyber-attacks are the advanced persistent threats. According to Vert, Gonen and Brown (2014), these kinds of attacks are known of being sophisticated and slow moving over a long period of time. Advanced persistent threats are computer network attacks in which unauthorized individuals gain access to network systems or its resources and continues to use the resources without detection for a long period of time. By definition, advanced persistent threats are highly sophisticated networked entity, typical of organized groups of attackers, which conduct hostile cyber-attacks against a computer system. As described in the scenario, the western interconnection power grid faces such a challenge. Adversaries intend to use malwares to gain access to the network system at the power grid. A. Analysis of the problem and Safeguards against the problem The lifecycle of an advanced persistent...
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...Cyber security is a critical and growing issue in the world today. President Obama said this issue is, "one of the most serious economic and national security threats our nation faces" (Cybersecurity). The United States is one of the most computer dependent societies and has the most computer dependent military and intelligence agencies. With more and, more of our country being ran by technology we are at a bigger risk of attack. A cyber attack could be the most devastating attack our country has ever faced. An attack on America’s cyber infrastructure could cripple the country and put us at an even greater risk of a normal attack. FBI Director said “Counterterrorism — stopping terrorist attacks — with the FBI is the present number one priority. But down the road, the cyber threat, which cuts across all FBI programs, will be the number one threat to the country” (Paganini). The message is clear the cyber security threat we are facing today is a dangerous and growing threat that has serious offensive potential and is often difficult to detect or prevent. An attack on a nation’s critical infrastructure can be devastating and when you add the fact that cyber attacks often do not make themselves know until it is to late could make for a devastating first strike prior to an invasion. Cyber security is defined as measures taken to protect a computer or computer system (as on the Internet) against unauthorized access or attack. The term “cyber security threat” means...
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...Corporate/Cyber Espionage You’re the owner of ABC Candy Company and just about to debut your latest and greatest chocolate snack when your biggest rival over in Asia at XYZ Candies introduces its latest snack, that is almost a doppelganger to yours. Have you just been a victim to corporate cyber espionage or just extremely bad timing? In 2012 federal agencies alone reported 46,562 cyber security incidents compared to only 5,503 in 2006. In 6 years the number of incidents has multiplied over 8 times. (LUKAS, 2013) And what is the cost of this to companies in the U.S.? It is figured the price tag for this theft of information is at least 250 Billion dollars each year. This is significantly higher than what businesses pay each year, in federal corporate income taxes. (LUKAS, 2013) Meanwhile, McAfee provides an estimate encompassing global remediation costs to total a staggering $1 trillion per annum. (Paganini, 2013) Cyber corporate espionage attacks and threatens corporate America, government programs and individuals daily in new and unrelenting ways. But who is committing these attacks and why? How are individuals, groups, companies and even governments’ gaining access to supposed secure information? And how are you and corporate America going to detect and remove these threats from your daily lives? Let’s first start with just the basic definition of just what is corporate cyber espionage Cyber espionage is defined as the intentional use of computers or digital communications...
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...Cyber Espionage Topics in Global Strategy Mike Dresser MGT 536 March 11, 2013 Cyber espionage is quickly becoming one of the most feared tactics around the world, but most recently, the computer spy game between China and the United States has been elevated to new levels. Just within the last few days, The New York Times broke a story pin pointing Coca Cola as one of the main targets of a Chinese sponsored cyber attack. Many believe this was largely due to discussions that Coca Cola had with China Huiyuan Juice Company regarding a potential acquisition. If it had gone through, this would have been the largest acquisition of a Chinese company by a foreign corporation. However, due to an elaborate Chinese cyber spy operation, they attempted to hack into Coke’s files to find information about Coca Cola’s negotiating strategy, and the deal was ultimately terminated because of deceptive practices. This is only the tip of the iceberg as cyber spy attacks are becoming more and more prevalent across the globe with no signs of slowing down. Mandiant, a cyber security company, also made front page news this past week when they published a full detailed report that traced a series of cyber attacks on a variety of U.S. companies, as well as many of our government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Commerce. Mandiant specifically identified a Shanghai based operation known...
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...Introduction Cyber security refers to the practices and processes that are used in technologies such as networks, computers, information and programs from damages by unwarranted entities (Ahmad, Yunos & Sahib, 2012). There are different attacks towards technology which may distort information or be used to create tension in an organization. Information stored in computers has some level of privacy and this depends on the level of sensitivity that such information may have towards that organization. Business strategies, political discussions and government documents are some of the documents that require a higher degree of privacy. However, there are individuals who cause deliberate attacks on the information systems of organizations and governments in order to unlawfully access information or distort the meaning of such data. The intention of cyber attacks has led to the classification of these attacks into particular classes. For example, we have cyber bullying and cyber terrorism. Under cyber bullying, the attackers use technology to abuse and intimidate their targets. Cyber bullying has been common through the presence of the social media where an individual will use pseudo-accounts to publish half truths about others with a bid to embarrass them. On the other hand, cyber terrorism involves the use of technology to access vital government sites in order to cause harm and fear in the society through terrorism activities. Brunst (2010) indicates that cyber terrorist activities...
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...International Security: Cyber Warfare – notes 10/3/12 * Review * Drones * What is Cyber Warfare? * Cyberspace: Interconnected network of information systems * Cyber warfare: using cyber capabilities to disrupt information in computers of another state * Inexpensive, just need to create unique computer code * Types * Denial of Service (DoS) * Goal: shut down network * Method: flood networkd with so many extra requests it overloads * Variant: Distributed (DDoS) attack from many infected bots * “carpet bomb in cyberspace” * Variant: Permanent (PDoS) * Damagers hardware * Malicious Programs * Goal: Disrupt of gain control of target computer * Method: Open a back door for remote access * Types: * Virus: Attached to file, self-replicates * Worm: Self-replicates, travels unaided * Trojan Horse: Apparently harmless program with code inside to gain system control * Logic bomb: * Goal: Coordinate timing of an attack * Method: Watch for specific event or predetermined time to trigger malicious code * Digital Manipulation * Goal: misinform/deceive audience * Method: Digitally alter images/audio * Extent: Real-time video, voice morphing * Cyber Espionage * Definition: Using cyber capabilities to acquire information about another...
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...are naturally anxious to meet new people and possibly make new friends and contacts. Online social media provide the perfect setting to do exactly that. Teenagers are able to interact with people from all over the world. This serves to not only increase their general knowledge but it enables this generation to be more tolerant of cultures and beliefs that differ from their own. New technology including smart phones with video and photo capabilities, iPad and other tablets, and portable Wi-Fi docs have made the Internet infinitely more assessable (Wolak, Mitchell & Finkelhor, 2006). Although technology has been associated with many positive effects, cyber bullying, sexting and slut shaming among teens are detrimental practices that have been encouraged by the advancement of technology owing to the obscurity that the cyber space provides. The first practice that this paper will focus on is bullying among teenagers, a form of intimidation that can take different forms and has been in existence since time immemorial. While the internet provides opportunities for self-affirmation...
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...with people being able to share ideas thus enhancing diversity (Thomas, 123-145). However, social media has negative effects as well. It is not possible to determine if a relationship developed over social media is meaningful. Many casual relationships have been nurtured through social media and in due course, some have been a source of misery to many people. Social media has been used by predators to advance negative actions to vulnerable people such as kids. Most of them have become victims of cyber-bullying and made to undergo terror experiences under the watch of their parents and peers. The consequence of cyber-bullying may be tragic and disappointing to the victim. Although social media has its positive benefits to the society, the negative effects are more aching to the target and therefore there is need for action. This is achievable by enhancing parental and institutional rules to control cyberspace and limit the negative effects associated with social media such as cyber bullying....
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