The term cyber warfare refers to the online war between governments, by carrying out complex online attacks. The actors of these attacks aim to destroy the network of an entire country. The methods used are many: viruses, malware, ransomware, denial-of-service attacks and others. Online attacks, to cause damage to another country, are an increasingly common phenomenon in today's technological era. The threats are many and it is difficult to have complete security.
How does cyber warfare ?
There are many reasons why a government might attack another. It might want to steal sensitive data or damage its systems. An example of the latter is the “Stuxnet worm,” which was used in 2010 by the United States and Israel to sabotage Iran’s nuclear facilities. The computer worm damaged Iran’s nuclear program by exploiting vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system. Another incident occurred in 2016, when the Russian government carried out a disinformation campaign using social media to influence American citizens in the run-up to the election.
Dangers
A cyber war between two or more countries is no simple matter. As we said, an attack is capable of paralyzing all the systems of the country. Since most organizations and companies rely heavily on the Internet and technology, attacks also have an impact on citizens.
Sectors that may be affected by a cyber warfare attack
Electricity
Power outages are one of the most significant problems that an attack can cause. In 2015, Ukraine suffered such an attack, leaving thousands of people without power. A year later, another power plant was attacked. Security experts believe that Russia is behind these attacks, which were testing to see if they could successfully carry out a similar attack on Western countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom).
Army
Many times, a government may aim to dismantle another country's military and obtain state secrets. The military is linked to cyberwarfare in many ways. For example, recently, the Israeli responded to a cyberattack by bombing the offices of the organization that originated the attack in the Gaza Strip.
Financial institutions
Another target of attack could be a country's financial institutions. Attackers could disrupt transactions or steal money. Such an attack could cause great damage, as the accounts of millions of citizens could be affected.
Votes-Elections
Experts believe that electronic devices used in voting can be dangerous. Malicious hackers could exploit security vulnerabilities in a specific model of voting device and influence the outcome. Of course, there are also threats coming from disinformation campaigns.
Transportation industry
An attack on the transportation industry could cause major problems across the country. Many elements are automated, such as traffic lights. An attack on these systems would cause significant disruption to traffic. Attacks on airports also pose many security concerns.
As is evident, cyber warfare is a significant threat and can impact the daily lives of millions of citizens of a country. Therefore, governments should constantly take protective measures for their systems to be able to deal with any attack.
