Cyber War: Modern-Day Warfare

Saturday, 24 September 2022, 6:11 am
Press Release: Hugh Grant

Did you know that Ukraine was hit by new malware designed to wipe data just hours before Russian troops invaded in 2022? In fact, in the first 10 weeks of 2022, over 150 cyberattacks were launched against Ukraine. In January, 2022, hackers disabled more than 70 government websites in Ukraine with Microsoft finding malware in Ukraine government systems that could be remotely triggered. In February 2022, the FBI asked U.S. companies to alert them to “any increased (cyber)activity against Ukraine or U.S. critical infrastructure” with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issuing a “shields up” alert.

This March, there were more than 6 billion potential cyberattacks worldwide in a single day. The most targeted countries were Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S., although the war with Ukraine is likely serving as a live testing ground for Russia’s next generation of cyber weapons. Why is Russia using Ukraine as a testing ground? Ukraine’s tech infrastructure is similar to Western Europe and North America, but there are limited resources for counter-attacks.

Cyberattacks have overall increased throughout the years. In 2015, possible Russian hackers knocked out electricity for 230,000 customers in western Ukraine while in 2016 a similar attack was used against Ukraine government agencies and financial establishments. In 2017, “NotPetya” malware was used on Ukraine, ultimately wiping computers belonging to the financial, business, and power grid sectors.

This year, the U.S. and E.U. have provided support to bolster cyber defenses in Ukraine, but cyberattacks are unlikely to stay within its borders. Some supporters of Ukraine are targeting websites in Russia to create panic and chaos instead of targeting critical infrastructure as a means of a counter-attack. This involves scanning wide swaths of the internet for vulnerable devices and having malware automatically attack targets where it's likely to succeed. These attacks are expected to bring collateral damage across borders.

50% of U.S. tech executives say state-sponsored cyber warfare is their biggest threat - 32% of U.S. tech executives say defining a national cybersecurity protocol should be a top priority. The connections between cyber and physical assets are continuously growing, creating greater risk to both network and physical infrastructure security. The pandemic has also heightened the potential for damage from cyberthreats by moving more information to the cloud, providing more services digitally, and having more people working remotely through less-secure home networks and personal devices.

What exactly is a cyberattack versus a cyber war? So far, cyberattacks have been less devastating compared to cyber wars, possibly because they were mostly used to test new cyber weapons. Nonetheless, cyberattacks have the potential to shut down electrical grids, destroy technology, and explode power infrastructure. An aggressive attack could even knock down many targets at one time, magnifying the impact.

In comparison, a cyber war could have an impact that’s as big as a natural disaster. For example, knocking out a power grid could lead to conditions similar to the 2021 Texas Freeze. A situation like this could include widespread damage due to frozen and burst pipes, loss of electricity, decreased food storage, less water access, massive disruption to everyday activities, and over 200 deaths. In the U.S., 93% of Americans fear a cyber war against the U.S. with only 19% feeling confident the government can protect citizens against cyber warfare.

70% of people agree that the U.S. is the most secure against cyber war attacks. However, 90% of potential cyberattacks are considered DDoS attacks, or distributed denial of service attacks. These usually target financial services and business networks in order to make resources unavailable to users.

Most Americans are afraid of losing access to things like finances, running water, and fresh food the most, so many have already started taking measures to protect themselves from cyber warfare. For example, 52% of Americans have updated all software for computers and mobile devices while 46% of people have backed up their computers and mobile devices offline.

It’s now more important than ever to protect yourself with a strong defense against the possible impacts of a cyber war.

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