Question

Global Politics: What is specific about cyber war?

Answer 1

At its core, cyberwarfare is the use of digital attacks by one country or nation to disrupt the computer systems of another with the aim of create significant damage, death or destruction.

Cyberwarfare is computer- or network-based conflict involving politically motivated attacks by a nation-state on another nation-state. In these types of attacks, nation-state actors attempt to disrupt the activities of organizations or nation-states, especially for strategic or military purposes and cyberespionage.

The threat of cyberwarfare attacks grows as a nation's critical systems are increasingly connected to the internet. Even if these systems can be properly secured, they can still be hacked by perpetrators recruited by nation-states to find weaknesses and exploit them.

APT attacks on infrastructure can devastate a country. For example, attacks on a nation's utility systems can wreak havoc by causing widespread power outages, but an attacker with access to hydropower grids could also conceivably cause flooding by opening dams.

Cyberattacks on a government's computer systems can be used to support conventional warfare efforts. Such attacks can prevent government officials from communicating with one another; enable attackers to steal secret communications; or release employee and citizen personal data, such as Social Security numbers and tax information, to the public.