Blog #3: Conflict in the Digital Age

Here is a video from the National Cyber Security Alliance whose goal is to "goal is to reach all users with education and awareness messages about cyber security."

Cyber war is conducting warfare in cyberspace by means of computers and Internet. Somewhere between the last decade or two people have found that the Internet can be a very powerful weapon. There is so much valuable information kept on it. Expert hackers have the ability to attack critical infrastructure such as transportation services, electricity and water. When you think about the opportunities a hacker with experience has it is mind boggling and frightening. It goes deeper than hacking websites for personal information or to damage infrastructure. Countries will try to steal secrets and classified information from other countries. This could be extremely detrimental to a country; for example if China hacking into a computer that had the ability to shut down missile defenses. All of these threats are very real. Many people expect the next war to begin over computers through use of the Internet rather than traditional techniques. According to an article by Graham Messick of CBS Interactive, "some people are already saying that the next big war is less likely to begin with a bang than a blackout"(Messick).

"It is now clear this cyber threat is one [of] the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation," President Obama said during a speech (Messick). One of the biggest worries is our adversaries shutting down a power grid, which they are fully capable of doing. Admiral Mike McConnell, former chief of national intelligence, who oversaw the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, claims that the United States is not prepared for this sort of attack (Messick).

The conflict in the Digital Age isn't confined just to hacking computers. Something more familiar to everyone is malicious software, things such as mal-ware, trojan horses and spyware. In the scheme of things these are much less threatening than having a power grid shut down but on a smaller scale they can ruin computers. One of my biggest concerns personally is that my identificartion or private information, such as banking information, would be stolen over the Internet. I have a lot of information, mostly scattered, throughout various sources.

The next decade will hold very interesting events regarding the Internet being used as a weapon. I do think that the next war will begin from an attack over the Internet, whether it may be shutting down power or stealing critical information will be up the attacker. I do think it is very interesting that Obama has put this at the top of his priority list. This makes it evident that it is becoming a more and more serious issue.